Dr. Howard Russell Fink passed away peacefully in Montreal on January 21, 2023 after a short illness at the age of 88.

A graduate of McGill, University of Toronto, and University College London, where he earned his Doctorate of English, Howard joined the faculty of the English Department of Sir George Williams (later Concordia University) in 1965. With others in his faculty, Howard founded the renowned Sir George Williams Poetry Reading series, bringing many of the most celebrated avant-garde writers in North America to the University. In 1981, he co-founded Concordia’s unique Centre for Broadcast and Journalism Studies, which preserved an important archive of the earliest Canadian radio and television programs, culminating in the Centre’s forty-year project, The Canadian Radio Drama Bibliography.

After retiring from teaching in 1996 as professor emeritus, he became an ardent advocate for his fellow retirees through the Concordia University Retirees Committee. Howard also continued his research and writing, furthering understanding of the literary genre of “social satire”.

Outside of academia, he passionately managed the land and country cottage he built for his family almost 50 years earlier at Lac Saindon in Labelle, Quebec. He became an active part of that community, founding and leading the Lac Saindon Lake Association and helped preserve the beautiful lake and surrounding wetlands.

Howard is survived by his wife, artist and psychologist Martha Harvey, to whom he was a patient and loving partner for 68 years, particularly most recently as she moved into long-term care.

He was a caring and ever-supportive father of his sons David and Nathaniel, of daughter-in-law Maureen and son-in-law Gavin. He remains adored by his grandchildren Anika and Caiden, his brothers William and Fred and their spouses Florence and Rosanna, nieces and nephews Robert, Stacey, Howard, Ted and Laura, and great-nieces and nephews Bonnie, Marshall, Benji, Brianne and Jessie.

We are grateful to the team at the Jewish General Hospital’s Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Neurological Unit for their compassionate and attentive care. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Howard’s memory at the Jewish General Hospital at http://secure.jghfoundation.org/goto/Howard_Fink

There will be a celebration of his life at Kane Fetterly, 5301 Decarie Boulevard on Sunday January 29, 2023 at 10:00am.