Richard Selig Lonetto

Richard was fiercely independent and intellectual, having graduated with honors from Columbia University & NYU where he studied engineering & industrial psychology. Following his time at NYU, he was asked by the Pentagon to maintain the mainframe computer in Vietnam.

Throughout his early life he was often found exploring the streets of Brooklyn and Greenwich Village, spending his teens working underground in various jazz clubs and his early 20s boxing, playing baseball, and running social activities for his fraternity – Sigma Nu. He loved to travel, attend concerts, and could often be found reciting poetry at his local coffeehouse.

A passion for cars developed from pumping gas and helping in his dad’s automobile garages in New York City and Long Island. He owned a fleet of his own classic cars, from a Sunbeam Tiger, to Lincoln Continentals, Jeeps, and a Ford Thunderbird.

Outside of academics, Richard was an avid sports fan. He found solace throwing around a baseball and fell in love with the sport growing up playing with his father, Michael. His love of sports expanded into basketball, and as an original season ticket holder of the Raptors, enjoyed watching hockey and spent lots of time on the golf green.

His love for the arts, statistics, and academics were joined when he began writing. He was well known for his writing on children’s grief as well as sports psychology, and also wrote several screen plays, fiction novels, and was featured in CBC, HBO, and in various papers.

After leaving New York, he joined the rank of educators at Guelph University. Three years later, he met his wife, Elaine, just outside of Guelph in the City of Toronto.

He was a kind and loving partner to his spouse Elaine Lonetto, as well as an incredible father to their three children, Caitlyn, Emily, and Mathew. He was also a fantastic dog-dad to many bouviers and Chewy, the adorable family malshi. He was often referred to by his children as the “Most Interesting Man in the World” and always taught them to challenge themselves to do the impossible.

He is predeceased by his daughter Caitlyn, and survived by his wife, Elaine, daughter, Emily, and son, Mathew. He leaves behind his sister & brother-in-law, Jane and Walter Odrechowski, as well as his beloved nephews and their wives, Christopher and April, and Kevin and Linda.

The family held a celebration of life the week of his passing and asks that any donations made in Richard’s name go towards Bereaved Families of Toronto.