Noel Meyer

It is with great regret that his family shares his passing. He is survived by three brothers and a sister, two children, many cousins and a thousand friends, all of whom were devastated by his passing at the young age of 64.

Noel was born in Ottawa, but the family soon came to Montreal, the city where he would spend the rest of his life. He both loved and loathed this city. He loved the museums and the galleries, the mountain and the river, the cafes and bistros, the Botanical Gardens and the city’s great mix of architectural styles. He loathed the sprawl, the congestion, and the city’s willingness to tear down little architectural gems in the name of progress and development.

After graduating Dawson College, he continued his education at Concordia University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978. At Concordia, Noel wrote for the Loyola News, reviewing books, records and live entertainment. He was also a disc jockey for Radio Loyola, hosting a program on the blues, one of his lifelong passions.

Noel worked as a renovator and contractor, during the summers while pursuing his education, and for a few years following his graduation. In the early eighties, he began writing about his experiences as a renovator. He contributed to two books, Lighting and Electricity, and Doors and Windows, published by St Remi Press for Time Life Books. In 1984, he worked on the translation and adaptation of Traditional Windows, a technical manual devoted to the preservation and reconstruction of traditional windows, published by Heritage Quebec. As well, in 1984, he began writing a weekly Q & A column in the Montreal Gazette concerning renovations and residential construction, with an eye to heritage building preservation. This column ran until 2001.

In 1986, he became a staff writer for Habitabec, a bilingual real estate weekly, writing stories concerning all aspects of housing in Montreal. He worked with them for two years. From 1991 to 1993, he was the editor of The Downtowner, a weekly community newspaper with a circulation of 60,000. From 1993 to 1999, he covered cable and satellite TV, his work appearing in New York and European publications. Throughout this time, he wrote press releases, company blogs and a variety of other work for a vast number of companies. In 1992, he wrote his first artist profile for Magazin’Art. His father, John Meyer, also wrote for Magazin’Art. Upon John’s passing, Noel became the English language editor for Magazin’Art, a position he held until his passing.

Noel was a big man in so many ways. At six foot two, 250 pounds, many of his friends’ recollections include details of how he stood out in a crowd in various ways. As one friend wrote of their first meeting “He walked in wearing a velvet smoking jacket, an ascot and a handlebar mustache. Plus he was tall and thin. I'd never seen anyone who looked like this before. I was fascinated.”

He had big passions including art, music and literature. He was a voracious reader, of all genres, from the classic works of Dickens to the fantasy fiction of Tolkien, from Carl Hiaasen to Larry McMurtry, Dashel Hammet, to Len Deighten, from Patrick O’Brien to Bernard Cornwell. He also loved to play the guitar for hours on end. His children have wonderful memories of falling asleep when they were young to the sound of his playing. He would also read to them as part of their bedtime ritual, and his melodic voice is something they will hopefully never forget. He would write all the time, not solely for work. He would create lively worlds of memorable characters to charm his friends and family.

Noel spent many hours wiling away in museums, and after reading an article that discussed how you could spark a child’s interest in art as young as 2, he spent many weekends with his young children at the Redpath Museum and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in order to ensure they too developed this passion. Noel was one of the great romantics; a generous, gentle, humorous, well read, musical and imaginative man who all too often didn’t enjoy the easy life he so much deserved.

His talent for friendship (and occasional well deserved enmity) will live with us forever. He loved to host and to cook, which he excelled at. He loved to be surrounded by those whom he loved and to bring them cheer and a sense of being taken care of.

Noel was loyal, thoughtful and energetic. He had a great love for his family and especially loved to share stories from his youth when he had terrorized his siblings with all sorts of high jinks. He had a fantastic sense of humour that often involved the creation of elaborate pranks or bizarre characters that he would encompass sporadically. He had so much more to give us all.

We write this with great sadness and in the knowledge that he would have denied (or re-written) many of his friends’ fondest memories. As another friend wrote “I am proud to have known him. You should be too.”