October 26, 1932 - November 4, 2018
Ian William Adam died quietly on November 4, 2018, ten days before his 86th birthday in Sidney, British Columbia. His wife, Hans, and son, Martin, were at his side. The cause of death was chronic heart failure.
Ian was born in Cabri. Saskatchewan the eldest of two children born to Dr. Stuart Adam, the town dentist, and Dammiene nee Richer, a nurse at Cabri Hospital. When he was 11, the family resettled in Ponoka, Alberta where his father set up his dental practice and his mother worked as a psychiatric nurse at the Provincial Mental Hospital.
An exceptional student in high school, excelling in French and English, Ian was active in sports playing rugby, baseball, curling and golf. He went on to the University of Alberta in Edmonton where he completed an honors degree in English and proceeded on scholarship to London, England where he earned a Masters degree from Birkbeck College, University of London. It was in
London that he met Hans Prager, who became his wife and lifelong companion. They would raise three boys. He returned to Alberta in 1960 and joined the department of English at the University of Alberta, Calgary, where he remained until his retirement in 1997.
He is the author of numerous books and articles and edited many more, including a family memoir written by his aunt, Jeanne Olsen. He remained active in the western Canadian literary community including leadership roles in the Dandelion and Prairie Forum, the League of Canadian Poets and The Writers Guild of Alberta.
He is survived by his loving wife, Hans, his three sons, Mark, Martin and Gordon, two grandchildren and his brother Dr. Kenneth Adam of Houston, Texas.
For those wishing, a donation can be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.