Obituary of Edward Dunlop
EDWARD (TED) DUNLOP
January 4, 1946 – July 4, 2020
It is with profound sadness that we announce that Ted passed away on July 4, 2020 at his home, surrounded by his family. Loving husband to Valerie and father to Maggie (Vince) and Emily (Meg), and brother to Charlotte. Ted was predeceased by his parents, Edward and Dorothy Dunlop. He was brother-in-law to Deborah and John Perl, and devoted uncle to Diana (Chris), John-Elliot (Jocelyn), and David (Jessica).
Ted attended Upper Canada College and the University of Guelph where he became intrigued with computers, which led to his true passion, a career in computer software development. Ted was an outdoor enthusiast. He always gave 110% to the sports he loved, especially football in his high school years. In his youth he spent most summers at Ahmek camp in Algonquin Park, where he became an expert canoeist and canoe trip guide. But he derived the most pleasure from his all-time favorite activity -- golf. Diamond Back Golf Club was truly his second home. Ted would spend hours on the driving range in efforts to improve his style. He would walk the course three or more times a week and often try to squeeze 36 holes into a day. He loved all aspects of golf, not just on the course, but in the social life at the 19th hole. Enjoying a beer, or more, with his many buddies on the patio was always the highlight of his golfing day. He was even a member of the Hole in One Club, a feat that he achieved on the 9th hole.
Politics was ingrained in Ted from an early age. He was from a political family with a large legacy, including two Fathers of Confederation, a Prime Minister (Sir Charles Tupper), and both father and grandfather were Cabinet Ministers in the Ontario Government. It is fitting then that he met Valerie while they were both campaigning in a Federal Election in 1974. Their candidate won and they went on to get married in 1976. It is not surprising that he always had in-depth insights and colourful commentary to dispense about the current political scene.
When Ted first started his career, mainframe computers were so large and expensive that only corporations owned them. His first job was stuffing the old punch cards into computers at UWO with his friend Denis. After gaining experience in some large corporations developing software, he heeded the call to entrepreneurship in 1984 and founded his own company, CDP Communications. At that time he took on the problem of the gigantic quantities of paper that computers generated and figured out how to snatch print streams and put the content into databases instead of into mountains of paper. Ted’s company wrote the software required to put credit card statements and insurance policies online instead of printing and having them mailed out. CDP Communications was so far ahead of its time that the only competition then was IBM, and even today there are only a handful of companies that can offer similar technology. Now, CDP technology is distributed by the likes of Oracle and EMC. Their products are found in 1500 of the world’s largest banks and insurance companies worldwide. He cared deeply for his employees at CDP. His partners, Rick and Peter, were brothers to him.
Ted was also regarded as one of the leading experts in the world on complex high volume print streams. He was highly regarded in the IBM Advanced Function Printing (AFP) Consortium, where he was a leader in defining future requirements. Ted understood mainframes and mainframe print streams. More importantly he understood all networks and could converse with anyone at any level. He could Architect and write code at the highest level. He remained at the state-of-the-art of software development right up to the end. He had no equal in his realm.
Ted’s daughters, Maggie and Emily, were the loves of his life. He was so proud of them and he was an enthusiastic supporter of everything they did – encouraging them to pursue their education and getting involved in intricate details of their studies up to their doctorates in Chiropractic and International Education. A special outing for them was always dinner followed by a Leafs or Raptors game.
Ted travelled widely on business and Valerie would often join him. He spent a lot of time in Germany and he always liked to coordinate his trip with Octoberfest, possibly because of his passion for beer. They had widely travelled in Italy and he loved to spend time with his cousin, Roslyn, at her home in Spoleto. But both Val and Ted had a soft spot in their hearts for Paris where they always stayed in their little hotel on Rue du Bac which they loved so much. He was a fascinating person to travel with because of his intense research of the destination and his innate interest in the history, arts and architecture of the place.
Ted was a voracious reader with widespread interests. He read fast and remembered everything, which made him a master Jeopardy player. He was a true gentleman with an amazing intellect. He was always kind and generous but he loved a good debate and would fight passionately for what he thought was right. His great and often subtle sense of humor, positive attitude and indomitable spirit were infectious and will be missed.
A private family service will be held in the near future. Ted was a supporter of many charities. If desired, donations in Ted’s memory may be made to the University Health Network (UHN) or to a charity of your choice. Condolences may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.
Questions?
