This notice is from the archives of The Notice Board. Information contained in this notice was accurate at the time of publication but may no longer be so.
The University of Lethbridge extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Professor Emeritus Brian Tyson, who passed away on Monday, March 5 at the age of 84.
Tyson began working at the U of L in the Department of English in 1968. He soon formed the first University drama society that performed several plays in the early years. A longtime supporter of Dramatic Arts at the University, Tyson initiated a proposal for the establishment of a drama department in the late 1960s. He describes the events that led to the founding of a drama department in a 50 Voices interview conducted in 2009.
Tyson served as a member of an advisory group as the drama department hired David Spinks in 1971 and three more faculty members between 1974 and 1977.
“In March of 1981, Brian was in the cast of a town-and-gown production, the first show in the University Theatre, The Cherry Orchard, which I was privileged to direct,” says Professor Emeritus Richard Epp. “He played Simeonov-Pishchik and was very funny in the role and beyond that, such a pleasant and dedicated member of the company.”
Professor Emeritus Brian Parkinson recalls that Tyson was a core member of the committee that interviewed him for a position in the drama department, a position he held for 36 years.
“While I met him in that formal professorial setting, Brian was not one to stand on ceremony — even on the most serious of subjects,” says Parkinson. “It was the unbounded energy and effervescent intellect with which he engaged you that made every conversation a learning experience that was both memorable and entertaining.”
Tyson was recognized with the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1990 and retired in 1995. In retirement, he wrote reviews of local theatre productions for the Lethbridge Herald. Tyson and his wife, Jill, supported all the arts in Lethbridge and were often in the audience for music and drama events, both on and off campus.
“My greatest memory of Brian was his animated enthusiasm about, and truly remarkable and seemingly endless knowledge of, dramatic literature and the vast minutiae associated with it,” says Parkinson.
A full obituary is available on the Cornerstone Funeral Home website.
A funeral mass is scheduled for Friday, March 16 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, located at 2405 12 St. S. An informal prayer service will follow at 7 p.m. at Cornerstone Funeral Home, located at 2800 Mayor Magrath Drive S.
In honour of Tyson, the U of L will lower its flag on Friday, March 16.
Contact:
caroline.zentner | caroline.zentner@uleth.ca