James M Paterson

James M Paterson was father to Mark (Lynn Brown), Mike (Monika Schmidt), and Nicholas Paterson; grandfather to Cate, Anika, Wilhelmina, and Frederick Paterson; and older brother to John (Rhoda), Julie Hoffman (the late Al), Jeff (Susan), and the late Jan Volker (Steve).

Jim was born in San Francisco, California to the late Ronald and Alice (née Smith) Paterson in 1944. He grew up in San Jose, enjoying tennis, swimming, water polo, baseball, and the Boy Scouts. A music lover, Jim played piano, guitar, and ukelele. Jim was a passionate movie fan, a voracious reader, and was fond of musical theatre, poetry, and any sort of word puzzle.

Jim attended James Lick High School and San Jose State University, where he became an active member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. Following graduation, Jim went east to work for the fraternity in Manhattan. He travelled widely to help found new SAM chapters at schools all over the United States and Canada. In 1967, the confluence of Jim’s travels and Expo 67 brought Jim to Montreal, where he met the late Gill Greer, his ex-wife and mother of their three sons. For over five decades, Jim made Rosemere and Montreal his home.

Jim will be remembered as a man who was kind, funny, and who had an inquisitive mind. Though he didn’t work in classrooms, he was a superb teacher. In his later years, Jim became a devoted congregant of Montreal’s Evangel church, where his pastors and friends knew him for his “little smile.” For those who knew and loved him, he will come to mind whenever we find ourselves in the vicinity of a piano, a Coke, a Rubik’s Cube. Jim lives on in the final line of one of his very favourite songs, “Four Strong Winds” by Ian and Sylvia Tyson: I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, May 2, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at Centre Funéraire Côte-des-Neiges, 4525 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal. A religious service will follow at 1:00 pm in the funeral home’s chapel.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation.