John Hansuld Obituary - Mississauga, Ontario | Skinner & Middlebrook Limited Funeral Home

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Obituary for John Alexander Hansuld

John Alexander  Hansuld
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of John Hansuld peacefully on Tuesday November 26th. John was born in Port Arthur, Ontario and as a child moved around the Province (many times) with his mom and dad, eventually settling in Galt Ontario. John graduated from Galt Collegiate and Vocational School where he was also named a distinguished member of GCI’s Stairway of Excellence (2003). Following high school, John attended McMaster University where he completed his undergraduate degree in Geology. Armed with his degree along with his love for science and the outdoors, John knew Geology was to be his life long career and on graduation was encouraged to pursue a Masters in Geochemistry which he went on to complete at the University of British Columbia. In between his undergrad and Masters, John married his lifelong partner of 64 years, Jane. While Jane and John knew each other from their GCI days, they didn’t start dating until University while Jane was away attending the University of Toronto – they quickly fell in love! Summer work to earn his way through school only further fueled John’s interest in Geochemistry and while on a train ride to Montreal for a Prospectors and Developers Association (“PDAC”) convention, he found himself in the bar car by invitation and over a beer before arriving in Montreal, was recruited into the PHD program at McGill. At McGill, John’s research work delved into geochemical techniques (for the rest of us “water sampling”) for mineral exploration where incidentally he had to pass a French exam to graduate. John liked to say that passing the French exam was the toughest challenge of the program (that’s something you won’t find on Google).

With a freshly minted doctorate in hand, John joined Amax in 1961 and was immediately transferred to Denver Colorado where he led the company’s exploration program as their Chief Geochemist. Of course, it was not all work once arriving in Denver and together, working with others, John and Jane founded the Denver Curling Club bringing together a contingent of Canadian expats who became lifelong friends. Transferred back to Toronto in 1968, John was appointed to lead Amax’s Canadian exploration program and finding himself on the business side of exploration, returned to school part time to earn his PMD degree (MBA) from Harvard Business School. He always thought he studied too hard while at Harvard and didn’t network enough but this was not a believable sentiment knowing his love for and interest in people.
John’s professional career, primarily with Amax, was an exciting one. After being transferred back to Toronto, he built Amax Exploration (Canada) into one of the largest exploration groups in Canada and in 1983 convinced Amax to spin it out to a public company, Canamax, of which he became President and CEO. The spin out raised $30 million in its initial public offering and listing on the TSX. This was perhaps one of John’s proudest career accomplishments as the financing introduced flow through shares, a tax incentive driven product used by the Oil and Gas Sector, to the Mining Sector. This creative approach to financing helped to push Canada as a global leader in exploration and mining. John was recognized for this innovation, among other things, and in 1988 was named Mining Man of the Year. He was later inducted to the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Business took John around the world and he often said he was privileged to do this particularly when he could take Jane along, which he often did. John retired from Canamax/Amax after 29 years and they continued to travel the world while John started the next phase of his career; consulting and working on many boards, which he did right up to his 85th year when he finally gave up the last of his responsibilities.
According to John however, his best achievement was neither professional nor academic; it was passing swimming lessons at age 30. Comfort around the water laid the foundation to many things in John’s life, chief among these being the family cottage on Georgian Bay. Although, swimming lessons didn’t save any boat propellers! At the cottage, John loved to do all the things one would expect – no exceptions. A lifelong learner as his obit would imply, he not only loved sailing but took up windsurfing as that craze took hold, which he carried on with well into his 70’s. John always lead by example so it took little convincing for him to do or try almost anything; sound rationale and a bet or two (because he was competitive) were all that was required to motivate him. Although, sadly, we couldn’t convince him to go slalom skiing again at 80 – he was last up at 75. Aside from sports activities, he loved all forms of games with family around the dining room table into the wee hours of the morning.
On a personal level some of John’s most notable characteristics were his honesty, integrity, and generosity. He willingly shared both his time and knowledge with others and did so throughout his entire life. Naturally, John loved to volunteer and because of his love for exploration, he became involved with the PDAC early in his career and eventually became its’ second longest serving volunteer President.
Outside of professional life, John also gave of his time at his Cottage where he served on the board of the Bayfield Nares Islanders Association. This ultimately led to his nomination and election to council of the Township of the Archipelago. As a counsellor John served three terms before retiring. He loved the job and worked very hard at it. He also loved maps which of course were an indispensable part of exploration but his skill in understanding and interpreting them was also very helpful in making balanced and informed decisions in discharging his responsibilities while on council. If there wasn’t a map he always asked for one!
Above all John loved family, which he always made his priority. John was wise counsel, led by example, and always left room to be ourselves! He cherished every moment with Jane, his kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren both at home and the cottage. He was always his happiest self when everyone was in the room and present. It made him feel good. It made him proud. And, it made him feel more accomplished than anything else he had ever done.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to The Lung Association of Ontario, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, and Parkinson Canada.
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