Michael John Chase

Mike, our brother and friend, was a very special guy!  
He was kind, curious, funny, a keen observer, playful, always ready to help, a practical problem solver….he could fix anything. 

Mike loved, helped, appreciated and was proud of his whole family! He knew he could always count on  his siblings, Steve, Ken, Marjorie and Sylvia and their spouses, Kim, Georgia, and Sean.  He always had time, interest and energy for his nieces Chrissie, Katrina , Maggie and Madison, his nephew Mike, his great-niece Maya, his nephews-in-law Marc, Josh, Andy and Jordan, and was just getting to know his new great-nephews Monty and Jameson…. he was a big kid at heart!  

Mike was greatly loved and respected by so many people whose lives he enriched.  “Uncle Mike” to a very extended family, “Frenchy” to his film crew colleagues, widely known and popular in his Junction neighborhood… our baby brother;  Mike holds a place in all our hearts and is dearly and forever missed.

Mike’s niece, Maggie, captured him beautifully …

When I was a kid, my Uncle Mike was the quintessential cool uncle. He was always joking around, playing pranks, making us laugh. He worked behind the scenes in film, so I got to visit him on set and he used to bring my cousins and I to his work's family Christmas party which was a full-on carnival with laser tag and rides. He had the coolest apartment, a sunny loft with a balcony big enough to play hockey on, a working gumball machine, bowling pins, slot machines, and at one point a motorcycle indoors.

But more than that, he was an adult who always had time for us kids. Who took us seriously. Who delighted in helping us solve problems - I can't count the times he helped me fix my phone, and he always lit up if I had a car-related question. He also always told you honestly if he thought you were doing something stupid. He was kind of a big kid himself, the youngest of my Mom's siblings.

He was a protector with a big heart and an open mind, and he brought his cheeky, sneaky sense of humour into everything he did. Even recently, in ICU at St Joe's, the nurses always commented that he made them laugh. He was on a ventilator and couldn't speak, but he still joked around.

We lost Uncle Mike last week after a long fight against pneumonia and its aftermath. It's been hard for my whole family, he meant a lot to us. He was with his brother Steve - they were inseparable - when he went, and all his siblings spent time with him while he was in ICU. I did too, and I'm glad I was with him. But it was hard to see him struggle, and the hospital is a strange place to hang out with someone you love. My last month has been a blur of foot rubs and blood oxygen levels. And it's hard now to imagine a family get together without him. I loved standing with him outside while he smoked just to have a quiet chat and hear his wild stories. I loved the times that we and Auntie Margie were the last ones up at Christmas, talking in the kitchen at Uncle Ken's old house. I loved how he always told me off for taking life too seriously, helped me see the funny side of hard situations. Swipe to see him as a brother, an uncle, a great uncle.

Rest in peace, Uncle Mike. We miss you so much!

In lieu of flowers, those who wish can donate to the Intensive Care Unit at St Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto.