Obituary of Chris Stringer
Chris died on September 12, 2021 after a long struggle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and best friend, Geraldine (nee Tyrrell); daughter, Justine (Steven Carey); son, Jason (Michelle); his sister, Shirley Davey; grandchildren, Steven, Clio, Christopher and Jack Carey, and Jaime Hunt-Stringer, as well as numerous nieces and nephews in the UK and Canada; and by his beloved Basset Hounds, Arabella and Sebastien. He was predeceased by his sister, Diana Linehan and parents, Reg and Margaret Stringer.
Chris was born at University College Hospital in London, England when V1’s and V2’s were still raining down on London. He lived in the suburb of Ealing in West London and attended local schools until he was fortunate to go to St. Peter’s, Bournemouth on the south coast as a boarder. He really enjoyed St. Peter’s and kept in touch over the years with the school and former students.
In 1967 Chris was having a few beers with some St. Peter’s friends in a pub near Leicester Square when he met a Canadian girl; 18 months later Chris moved to Canada and he and Geraldine were married in St. Basil’s Church in Toronto. They were married for 53 years.
Chris had a successful career in the financial industry. He joined Barclays Bank as a trainee straight from High School; in 1967 he joined Royal Trust in Toronto; then worked for three years in the Bahamas as a Trust Officer; and then joined Canada Permanent Trust Company, which was subsequently taken over by Canada Trust. In 1989 he was appointed Executive Vice President of Canada Trust, a position he held until TD Bank took over. He was then asked to lead the integration of TD and Canada Trust. He retired in 2006.
Chris was a great supporter of a number of not-for-profits. He served on the Board of the Children’s Aid Society with a term as President, Chaired the Children’s Aid Foundation for a number of years, and served as a Board Member and President of Community Living Toronto.
He was also a dedicated supporter of the England Rugby Team through thick and thin; he and Geraldine attended several world cups, including England’s victory in 2003 in Australia. He said that his playing career was remarkably undistinguished; he played for Barclays Bank RFC, then Toronto Wanderers, The Nassau Buccaneers and Toronto Nomads.
Chris was a great reader on many topics, including military history, which may account for the 10,000 hand-painted model soldiers in the basement; his fascination with London buses and the 400 models he collected is harder to explain.
He and Geraldine travelled a lot, dragging Justine and Jason around Europe when they were young. Their favourite locations were London, Paris and Venice . . . and Newcastle upon Tyne to visit the Carey’s.
Above all, Chris was a loving human being with a great sense of humour, who adored his children and grandchildren, and small children generally, and had a great partnership with Geraldine.
Our thanks to Dr. Joseph Yuh and Dr. Urban Emmenegger, and the wonderful staff at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook.
The family will receive friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue) on Thursday, September 23rd from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. Due to Covid restrictions, please email your time of attendance to Maureen at Maur.Malone@sympatico.ca. A private funeral service will be held. To livestream this service, go to https://ipickart.ca/stream/
If you feel so inclined, please consider a donation to the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada at https://www.cafdn.org/chrisstringer or Community Living Toronto at www.cltoronto.ca/donations. Condolences may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.
© 2021 Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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