Obituary of Roland List

Roland List

February 21, 1929 – January 26, 2019

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Roland List, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, after a brief illness, and with his children by his side.  He will be lovingly remembered by his children Beat List (Sarah) and Claudia Woolner, grandchildren Sean Woolner, Jennifer List-Davis (Jordan), Laura List, and his companion Margaret Liu-Rakozcy.  He was predeceased by his wife of 30 years Gertrud List-Egli (1996), his brother Bruno List (2018) and his granddaughter Heidi List (2010).

Roland was born in Frauenfeld, Switzerland in 1929.  He completed a Masters Diploma in Physics in 1952 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and went on to work at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, Weissfluhjoch-Davos as the head of the newly formed Hail Section.  While there, he completed his PhD in 1960 through the ETH.  He then moved his family to Toronto in 1963 to join the University of Toronto as a full professor in Physics.  He was tasked with assisting in building a graduate program in Meteorology and continuing his research on hail formation.  Between 1963 and his retirement in 1994, he supervised 47 MSc. and 33 PhD students.  As one of his students shared, ‘He was a wonderful teacher who engaged with the class right from the first minute, and he put across such passion in his teaching and a clarity of what was known and what wasn’t, that I have rarely seen since’. 

Roland had an illustrious global career.  He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the UN World Meteorological Organization in Geneva (1982-84) while on leave from the University of Toronto and was elected as Secretary-General of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) in 1995, a position he held until 2007.  He also received countless national and international honours including Fellow Royal Society of Canada, Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Science, Patterson Medal (Canadian Meteorological Service) recipient and Honorary Fellow of IAMAS.

Throughout his life, Roland loved world travel and interacting with people. While travelling, he always immersed himself in a country’s history and folklore and often developed lifelong friendships with those he met.  To truly relax, he loved to spend time at his house in the Utah desert where he could be found writing his next scientific paper, touring the National Parks, often with visitors, and puttering around the property. In Toronto, he could frequently be found at the Faculty Club dining with colleagues or at Rotary Club meetings.  Roland truly had a life well lived.

Thank you to the doctors and medical staff of the Emergency and ICU Departments at the North York General Hospital who were most caring and kind while Roland was in their care.

A private family memorial will be held at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association would be appreciated.

Condolences, photographs and memories may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.