John G. Worrall
May 22, 1938 – August 8, 2023

It is with much sadness we announce that Dr. John G. Worrall passed away August 8, 2023, after a two week stay at Vancouver General Hospital. Worrall was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease almost a decade ago and his health has slowly deteriorated since, and more aggressively these last 5-years. After fighting off hospital-onset pneumonia, he just couldn’t recover from the after effects, and quietly slipped away on Tuesday, August 8th with his brother Richard Worrall and ‘surrogate son’, John Davies, by his side.

Worrall arrived in North America on a whaling ship, via the Antarctic, on which he was working as a chemist (his first degree from Newcastle University) in 1965. Upon disembarking, he jumped on a train and made his way the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in forestry before heading to Yale University, to complete a Master’s and PhD (1968). He returned to UBC in 1969 to develop and teach the legendary (infamous?) first year dendrology course, for which he became so well known. For the next 35 years, Worrall dedicated himself to teaching and to his students’ well-being, retiring in 2003. Over his teaching tenure, he made a point of learning (and never forgetting) the name of every new forestry student – and would call on people by last name when they were least expecting it!

A celebration of Worrall’s life will be held in late September or early October and a hike will be planned to Mt. Frosty in Manning Park where Worrall wanted his ashes scattered beneath the golden larch forest of which he was so fond. Further details will be published as plans materialize.

[We would love to hear your stories and see your pictures of Worrall. Please share them with sandy@treefrogcreative.ca and we will include them in a tribute both online and at his Celebration of Life]