Janette Adele Buckley

July 22, 1938 – May 17, 2025.

Adele passed unexpectedly on Saturday May 17 at her home in North York, due to complications of a heart condition. She is survived by her children Eric (Jamie), Howard (Shirley) and Lauren (Rob), her grandchildren Daniel, Joseph, David and Madeleine. Adele is pre-deceased by her beloved husband Peter and her parents Jens and Florence Castella.

Adele will be remembered for her devotion to her family, as well as her brilliant scientific career. Family always came first for Adele, and the support she provided to her family at all times was unmatched. Adele was also very devoted to her religious life, both her relationship with God and the church and community that she attended for all of the many years that she lived in Toronto, Advent Lutheran Church.

Adele was always an exceptional student, finishing high school early and entering the University of Alberta as the youngest in her programs. She graduated from UofA with a Masters in Low Temperature Physics in 1960 and went on to complete the PhD program at the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), graduating in 1974, as the first female to graduate from UTIAS with a PhD. She went on to a brilliant scientific career, largely in environmental sciences, starting with the founding of Sciex, whose technology is based on her PhD thesis. Subsequently she deployed her expertise at Solarchem, cleaning up contaminated water, and then at the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement helping to introduce new environmental technologies. In recognition of her extraordinary achievements and contributions as a pioneer for Women in the Sciences in Canada she was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Toronto in 2006.

Following her retirement, she was able to devote more time to Canadian Pugwash Group (CPG), about which she was passionate. CPG is concerned with the abolition of nuclear weapons and a particular CPG project about which she was especially passionate is the Arctic Nuclear-Weapon-Free Program of which she was the principal champion. Adele went on, at various times, to be President and Treasurer of CPG. Adele was engaged with this cause right up until her last day.

Visitation will be for one hour prior to the funeral service, which will be held at Adele’s long time church Advent Lutheran Church in North York. Visitation will commence at 1PM, followed by the service at 2PM.

In lieu of flowers the family asks you to consider a donation to a cause that was very close to Adele’s heart, Canadian Pugwash, a group dedicated to nuclear disarmament. Donations can be made by following this link:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-pugwash/