{"id":28345,"date":"2021-12-22T12:53:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/?page_id=28345"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:17:14","slug":"ken-torrance-tributes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/ken-torrance-tributes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Torrance Tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        Ken Torrance Tributes\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\">I&#8217;m recalling the kindnesses that passed between Ken and me during the fifty-plus years that I knew him; I doubt if I returned as many as I received from him, when problems of whatever kind arose. He was especially supportive when he held the Department Chair. He&#8217;ll be sorely missed.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW80009011 BCX0\"><span class=\"SCXW80009011 BCX0\">&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"SCXW80009011 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\">John <\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\">Tunbridge<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\">, <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW80009011 BCX0\">Colleague<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW80009011 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW184842435 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW184842435 BCX0\">This is very sad news. It was Ken who drew me back into the Department way back in 2005 when he was Chair. I was visiting when he stopped me in the hallway. Out of the blue he said, \u201cI think you would do a great job teaching a course.\u201d In hindsight I now know that he was trolling for CIs, but I <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW184842435 BCX0\">gamefully<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW184842435 BCX0\"> answered, \u201cSounds like fun.\u201d That course was resource and environmental management, and I teach it to this day.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW184842435 BCX0\"><span class=\"SCXW184842435 BCX0\">&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"SCXW184842435 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW184842435 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW184842435 BCX0\">John Milton, Colleague<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW184842435 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\">Such sad news and condolences to Marg and family. Ken was soft spoken and a great chair and colleague. He was a member in good standing of the &#8216;old farts&#8217; lunch gatherings which unfortunately are on hiatus due to the pandemic. He will be sadly missed but fondly remembered.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW16501812 BCX0\"><span class=\"SCXW16501812 BCX0\">&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"SCXW16501812 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\">Steve <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW16501812 BCX0\">Prashker<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\">, <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW16501812 BCX0\">Colleague<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW16501812 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW230862530 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW230862530 BCX0\">This is indeed sad news. Ken made a great contribution to the Department.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW230862530 BCX0\"><span class=\"SCXW230862530 BCX0\">&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"SCXW230862530 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW230862530 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW230862530 BCX0\">Fraser Taylor, Colleague<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW230862530 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW146346175 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW146346175 BCX0\">Ken was the most enthusiastic soil scientist and so kind and generous with his time.&nbsp; The soils course I inherited from him has so many fun and unique components to it that wouldn\u2019t be there without his disciplinary contributions and personal guidance.&nbsp; I\u2019ll miss him!<\/span><\/span><span class=\"LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW146346175 BCX0\"><span class=\"SCXW146346175 BCX0\">&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"SCXW146346175 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW146346175 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-CA\" xml:lang=\"EN-CA\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW146346175 BCX0\">Elyn Humphreys, Colleague<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW146346175 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first started working at Carleton, I was the FASS fundraiser. Ken was always a generous supporter of the university and so I had the opportunity to meet both him and Margaret at various events. They were unfailingly kind and interested in the work we were doing in the department and inspired me to become a donor as well. Later, when I was editing Carleton Now (the last print newspaper published by the Department of Communications), I interviewed Ken, along with his former graduate student Awegechew Teshome, about the Unitarian Service Committee Seeds of Survival program. My interview with Ken has stuck with me, not just because I learned something important about food sustainability and the Green Revolution but also because Ken was so clearly a superb teacher and an ethical researcher.<br>\nMartha Attridge Bufton, Colleague<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My sincerest condolences to Prof. Torrance\u2019s family and colleagues. Prof. Torrance was a favourite professor of mine. His kindness made a difference to me as a young and uncertain undergraduate in the 1980&#8217;s. He radiated tolerance towards his students and exuded excitement about his research interests. I am very grateful to have known him.<br>\nMonica Ferguson, Former student<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m recalling the kindnesses that passed between Ken and me during the fifty-plus years that I knew him; I doubt if I returned as many as I received from him, when problems of whatever kind arose. He was especially supportive when he held the Department Chair. He&#8217;ll be sorely missed.&nbsp;John Tunbridge, Colleague&nbsp; This is very [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[],"class_list":["post-28345","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28405,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28345\/revisions\/28405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/geography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=28345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}