Michael passed away suddenly and unexpectedly but peacefully at his home in Vancouver on Friday, May 31st. He is survived by his son Stephen, daughter-in-law Michele (nee Gagne) and two grandsons, Benjamin (6) and Liam (4), who both adored him as much as he did them, as well as his brother Jerry and nephew Barry and their families. Michael was married for 32 years to Linda (nee Wren), who now lives in England.

Michael was born in London, England and went on to earn a B.Sc. Physics and a Ph.D. Physics from Imperial College, London, and an M.Sc. Physics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael began a successful career in High Energy Physics and soon moved to Switzerland to work at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research. He subsequently moved with his family to California (Berkeley), Illinois (Fermilab), Ottawa (the National Research Council and Carleton University) and ultimately to Vancouver (Triumf (UBC)).

Throughout his career, he continued to work with and visit CERN often, as part of Canada's significant and ongoing contribution to this leading international project. Michael retired in 2008, but like many of his "retired" colleagues, he kept an office and continued to go to work often. Most recently, he was excited about the possibilities for the new Atlas detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which is investigating a wide range of physics, including the search for the Higgs boson or "God particle".

Michael was passionate about his work. He was a voracious reader and keen follower of domestic and world affairs, politics, the arts and sports. His greatest joy and source of pride in recent years was his two young grandsons, who always looked forward to Grandad's visits to Toronto to see them.

Michael leaves behind a loving extended family and close group of friends, neighbours and colleagues at Triumf, CERN and across the Canadian and international High Energy Physics community. He will be greatly missed.

An informal gathering and visitation will be held at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 49 Ave W  Vancouver, BC, in the Fireside Room from 1pm to 3pm on Friday June 15th 2012.