David Walter Hustler

Peacefully, in the early morning of July 11, 2017, David Hustler lost his battle with cancer after a brief stay in the palliative care unit at Princess Margaret Hospital. Survived by his beloved wife Laura Beard, sister-in-law Wendy Beard (Foster Blair), mother-in-law Alva McNab and many friends far and wide, his loss is deeply felt.
David had much experience battling illness. As a young man, only 20 years of age, he'd experienced kidney failure and survived with the aid of a transplanted kidney for the next 43 years. David was a pioneer in kidney transplants and one among only 1% of patients who go on to live as long as he was able to do.
In the 1970s David trained as a psycho-geriatric nurse in England, at Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge. The nurturing disposition that led him to pursue this course of study continued on throughout David's life and was evident in many ways, including his work at Bloorview Children's Hospital as a child care worker and later as a special needs assistant with the Toronto District School Board at Lucy McCormick Senior School and Beverly Junior Public School.
David also had trained as a chef and worked at the King Edward Hotel, the RCYC and the London Hilton in the UK. Laura and David met when they were both students studying jewellery arts at George Brown College. David's love of the arts and appreciation of nature attracted Laura to him and they had many common interests. Coincidentally, they discovered later that in 1975, while Laura had been studying the goldsmith trade in North Wales, David had been a mere 50 miles away, in Mid-Wales, working as a chef.
David was very artistic and well read. He enjoyed ancient history best of all. An artistic passion that he pursued for many years was enamelling. David had many accomplishments in this area including creating the enamelled plaques of the provinces of Canada and the Bell logo, which adorn the Bell Canadian Open Golf Trophy. That was the year 2000, the first year that Tiger Woods played in the Bell Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, and David also worked on the enamelled pieces for the winner's cup.
David was the president of the Canadian Enamellist Association. In 2002, together with members of the association, 39 Japanese enamellists and their work were hosted for an exhibition at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre. The exhibition was entitled, ‘The Colour of Fire'. It was a great success.
More recent endeavours, as many Island residents can attest, was David's drive to clean up the Island of unwanted beer tins. His service to the park & his neighbours was commendable. David was a kind and loving husband, who never complained, even though he had lots to complain about. He maintained his dry wit and good humour to the end, even in the darkest days. We will never stop missing David.

A celebration of David's Life will be held on Sunday August the 27th at 2:00pm at the Shaw House on Wards Island. You can purchase advanced ferry boat tickets online. There's a seperate line on the"far left" when you enter the Jack Layton ferry terminal for advanced ticket holders so you don't have to wait. There's a 1:30pm ferry to Wards Island and a ferry boat every half hour after that. They leave from the city on the hour and half hour. You can also take a private water taxi to Wards Island with the ''Otter Guys". They are moored on the east side of the Harbor Castle hotel. When you get off the boat follow the road to the right until you come to the Algonquin bridge then make a left, you're there. On the right is a covered walk way into the Shaw House.