Eddison Narad Sinanan

16 DECEMBER 1927 – 27 DECEMBER 2019

Eddison Sinanan, 92, beloved brother, uncle, husband, father, and grandfather, passed away in Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver on December 27, 2019. Eddie was born and educated in Vista Bella, San Fernando, Trinidad; and continued his education later in Ireland and the United States. Eddie was pre-deceased by his son, Philip, in 1990, and wife, Leila, in 2019. He was the eleventh child born to Sarah and Ramdat Sinanan. Eddie was pre-deceased by his siblings Andrew, Nina, Dixie, Kaiser, Kenny, Ella, Dalton, Tulsie, Laymas, and Ranvir.

He is survived by son, Mika (Jenny); daughter, Sarah (Mike), and grandchildren, Josh and Reilly Sinanan and Isabel and Nadya Bremner. As well, he is survived by siblings Irene, Seeta, Alva, and Madge. Eddie was a true patriarch of his family and leaves many dearly loved nieces, nephews, and friends in Canada, Trinidad, Europe, the U.S. and Finland.

After completing high school in Trinidad, Eddison went to Queen's University of Belfast where he studied medicine and swam on the championship varsity waterpolo team for Queen’s. He was in Belfast from 1947 to 1953, graduating at the top 10% of his class as a medical doctor in June 1953. This was a field he loved and for which he was so well suited.

Eddison met Leila when he was in Belfast and they married in 1953. After this, the family moved around the globe from Belfast to Finland, on to Trinidad to do general practice and then to the United States for further medical training. Eddison was accepted in the Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and Throat surgery) training program at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, working there from 1960 to 1964. The family which then included Mika and Philip, settled in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1966 where Eddison opened his ENT practice. His daughter, Sarah, completed the family in 1968.

Eddison was gifted in diagnosis, surgery with a focus on the ear (otology), and teaching others. He was interested in promoting the best otolaryngology and technical surgical practice, encouraged his students to learn from their experiences and to rely on their observations. He loved meeting new people, telling good stories and making friends. Eddison was truly a renaissance man, actively engaging in boating, fishing, skiing, squash, golfing and above all, swimming. He had an abiding love of conversation and storytelling, good books and current events. He was a voracious reader who spent time daily with a good book and newspaper.

Eddison was a fun person, a renown practical jokester who had a great sense of humour. He was usually the life of the party and a favourite among all of our children. His family and close friends, and their children, were important to him and he devoted time to creating and maintaining those relationships, taking care of so many of us in myriad ways.

He will be missed greatly. The family would like to thank the medical and nursing staff at Vancouver General Hospital for all their care and hard work.

There will be a memorial service at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1499 Laurier Avenue at Granville Street, Vancouver BC on January 25th at 2:00pm. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall at 3:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, we invite you to make a charitable donation to the Phil Sinanan Memorial Bursary in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Information for online and mail contribution is below: Online: To give online to the Phil Sinanan Memorial Bursary for Creative Writing, please visit this site (copy and paste, please):

https://donate.support.ubc.ca/page/18682/donate/1?transaction.dirgift=phil%20sinanan%20memorial%20bursary%20in%20creative%20writing%20c902

By mail: Cheques made payable to The University of British Columbia. In the memo line, add Phil Sinanan Memorial Bursary in Creative Writing. Mail to 500-5950 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3