Dermot Pius Ganley

Dermot Pius Patrick Ganley

May 28, 1954 - January 26, 2021

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"Goodnight  sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest"

Sadly we say "later" to our Oscar Wilde-quoting, music-loving  "man about town" as he embarks on his next romantic adventure.

Dermot slipped the surly bonds of Earth at 2 a.m Monday, January 26, fittingly accompanied by an instrumental version of "Moon River" - a song he loved and which aptly captures his "Huckleberry" spirit.

Dermot was diagnosed with cancer just four short months ago. After a month in St. Mike's hospital he returned to his downtown Toronto apartment to spend his remaining days with calm dignity. He died peacefully in his sleep.

His life partner Debra lovingly cared for him and made his final moments as comfortable as possible. We love you Deb - you are a saint.

Dermot was just two years old when the Ganley family moved to Windsor, Ontario from Athlone, Ireland in 1956.

He grew up in Windsor and settled in Toronto after living in Montreal for a couple of years.

Dermot was an avid reader from a young age and exhausted many a library, at home, in High School and at the University of Windsor, where he studied English and Philosophy.

He also exhausted many a prof in the English department at the U of W with his inquisitive mind and his "scary" knowledge of writers, poets, existentialists - both classic and modern.

One would never question Dermot 's references to Wilde, Joyce, Shakespeare, Yeats or Nietzsche.

It was also during those times - the late 60s early 70s - that Derm began his life-long love affair with music.

Naturally he became fiercely knowledgeable about music and the musicians that made it. From Iggy Pop and Jimi Hendrix in the day to REM and later performers of today  - his musicology was, again, "scary".

Dermot loved Toronto and was a was a denizen of the city’s music venues (a salute here to Lee's Palace), it's restaurants, movie theatres, museums and sundry cultural offerings.

Downtown Toronto was his "turf" - north of Bloor Street was "nosebleed country", Etobicoke and Scarborough the "boonies". Dermot skated several times a week on downtown rinks right up until the end of last winter.

Dermot decided at an early age he wasn't going to have children - recognizing his free-spiritedness - and treated his many nieces and nephews as if they were his own children

"Uncle Dermo" became the de facto tourist guide to his siblings and many nephews and nieces who visited from Windsor and to his "Irish" cousins visiting from Ireland.

Dermot worked as a labourer at "the Soup" (Campbell's) for many years and as a custodian at a Toronto synagogue for several more years.

But they were just jobs to help pay the rent and help facilitate his pursuit of greater knowledge and insight. He found ambition to be "vain". Nor did he put much stock in attaining fame or glory or care too much about acquiring wealth.

Dermot was a sensitive and somewhat rebellious youth - and never changed his stripes throughout his life.

He was generous to a fault and would give one the shirt off his back - after he corrected one's sloppy use of grammar or a misguided Bob Dylan lyric.

He was a keen baseball aficionado and remained a Detroit Tigers fan for life. Detroit's old Tiger stadium held a special place in his heart.

Dermot lived his life on his terms. He most definitely did it "his way".

We'll see you sitting on that Rainbow's end just round the bend our Huckleberry friend - legs crossed, calmly smoking a cigarette, drinking a glass of Chardonnay and looking at us like we're late.

Dermot and Deb would like to thank the staff at the palliative care unit at St. Michael's  Hospital and at the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Dermot is survived by family in Windsor too numerous to mention here but will be acknowledged in the Windsor notice.

He is remembered by his Toronto friends Kevin, Reva, Ted, Wade, Ken, Michael, John, Sam, Jim, Janet, Nancy and his friends and neighbours at Windmill Line.

Cremation has taken place. Donations can be made to St. Michael's Hospital.