Patrick Michele Taiani

Pat Taiani slipped quietly from this life on a rainy morning in late May. Ironically, though Pat was halfway thru his 98th year, his passing took us by surprise; so was his constitution and seemingly continued denial of the inevitable.

Pat lived a storied life which he shared with family and friends, often with a tinge of nostalgia. He was born ninth in a family of eleven in London, England to Mary (nee Martin) and Ernesto Taiani. He was extremely proud of his siblings, particularly his younger brother Peter, who, according to Pat was picked by Richard Attenborough to attend acting school on his charity. Sadly, Peter was badly injured in WWII and died shortly after the war. A tragic moment in Pat’s life.

Pat grew up in East London and left school at the age of fourteen. According to his lore, he went to school that morning only to find it reduced to rubble with the headmaster sitting on the steps unable to provide direction. Pat always liked to act this out in a hands-in-the-air motion as to say “…and that’s about that”. The Second World War keenly shaped Pat’s psyche; from the loss of his brother, the destruction of his school, buzz bombs (“doodlebugs”) that rocked the soccer pitches he played upon, and the constant clamour of anti-aircraft fire, to his relocation to Downside Abbey in Kent as part of the children’s evacuation until his service in Paris as part of the re-occupying force in 1946.

Returning to London after compulsory service, Pat was able to indulge his unique intellect for mechanics, notably at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham where he was selected for advancement. As it was, Pat was unable to let go of the insecurity that pursued a child of immigrants in the rigid English class system, so he denied himself this and many other opportunities. Instead, he indulged his passion for motorcycles and sailing and close friendships. He is long predeceased by his friends Curly and Al, who together with Pat purchased and raced a yacht with the intentions to campaign it globally. Perhaps unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, his two best friends got together one night and decided to delay the campaign start by a year and given his sometimes-mercurial nature, Pat immediately applied to emigrate to Canada.

Pat landed in Halifax in 1961, at first to visit his late sister Lynn. As it so often happened in his life, a chance event, the loss of his wallet at a cricket match, forced him to stay on. In short time he found work as a draftsman at the Halifax office of the UK firm Cossor Electronics. During this time, he met Shirley MacDougall and again as family lore goes, told her father he intended to marry her within a week of their first date. They did marry and Pat proudly took on the responsibility of father to Shirley’s three children: Anne, Beth and John. It was also at Cossor that Pat started being more recognized and lauded for his own design work. This eventually led him to the Nova Scotia Research Foundation and global success (albeit in the relatively esoteric field of magnetics).

Pat Taiani’s work at the Research Foundation solidly established him as a profoundly gifted inventor. Over the years he was feted by the American companies and US Navy that deployed his patents. During his career as an inventor, Pat was presented with several offers to join American companies, but he dearly loved Halifax and Canada. He never gave leaving here a second thought. He was immensely proud of his service to Nova Scotia and touted the fact his inventions brought Nova Scotia revenue in the millions. His work culminated in the founding of Nova Magnetics, an offshoot of the Research Foundation and founded mostly on his inventions. Chiefly amongst these are the Low loss magnetic drive system and the Synchronous magnetic drive assembly with laminated barrier.

In 1967 Shirley and Pat had their only child, Noel Patrick Taiani.

Pat often said that because he started work at the age of fourteen, he had no trouble retiring at sixty-five; forever leaving behind the pressures and politics of his latter work life. He set about enjoying a very calm post-retirement, tinkering with woodwork, traveling with Shirley and reading. Shirley predeceased Pat by only nine months in September of 2023.

Pat was a deeply spiritual person and often described life as a mystery. He took great care of nature. For decades Pat refused shopping bags stating that they would end up in the landfill. He cared deeply for God and for the earth and for the wonder of the mystery of life. He left this one, having set aside personal ambition and taking pride in what he gave to the place he dearly loved.