PAUL PURITT, born at St. Luc Hospital in Montreal on 28 July 1938, passed away peacefully at the Ottawa General Hospital on the evening of 23 December 2022 at the age of 84. Paul’s warm personality, charisma, wit, and sharp intellect touched many people throughout his long life. He loved telling jokes and stories, wordplay of all kinds, crossword puzzles, and bamboozling kids and adults alike with his signature penny trick.
While not a foodie, he loved all things chocolate, especially Annette’s brownies and Rav’s chocolate chip cookies. Always collecting ideas rather than things, he read voraciously and held strong views on the ethical, social, and political issues of the day. In later years, he heartily engaged in street-side conversations with neighbours, such that a ten-minute walk often became a lively half-hour exchange.
Retired from here
Paul lived his early years in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. He graduated from the University of Toronto and obtained his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana, with a dissertation on the Meru People of Tanzania published in the Ethnographic Survey of Africa. To carry out his research, Paul moved his young family to Tanzania for 6 years and became fluent in Swahili. He was immensely proud of this accomplishment, especially when, years later, local market vendors commented on how well he spoke it.
Early in his professional life, Paul taught Anthropology at several universities in the USA and Canada, where he then worked to support African liberation movements and was particularly involved in the fight against the South African apartheid regime. As a member of SUCO in Montreal, TCLSAC in Toronto, and later as regional director at Oxfam, he played an active role mobilizing Canadian civil society in support of the African National Congress (ANC) and Nelson Mandela, whom he met on several occasions.
One of the labour spaces in Africa that will miss him!
In the mid-80s, Paul joined the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) as project planner in the International Department, where he collaborated with trade unions throughout Africa, leaving an indelible mark as a popular trade union educator and a leader who spoke truth to power. He was also deeply engaged in building international solidarity within the Canadian labour movement.
In the ten years prior to his retirement in 2005, Paul’s responsibilities shifted to Asia and the Middle East where he oversaw projects aimed at abolishing child labour, promoting gender equity, and advancing labour rights. Paul developed many profound and lifelong friendships and kept in touch with numerous friends around the world. Paul would often say proudly that he’d been to over 87 countries. He was particularly fond of and attached to Yemen and to the city of Aleppo in Syria, both now devastated by war.
He was loved by many and will be missed by many, particularly Anna, his partner of twenty years, his sons and their wives, Edan and Judy, Jeffrey and Annette, his step-son Jan and Rav, as well as his 6 grandchildren Alicia, Calvin (Ksenia), Daniel (Kenzie), Joseph (Nicki), Alexa, Nathan (Serena), and his great-grandson Matteo. He will also be sadly missed by his siblings, Larry (Betty) and Howard (Jackie), and many cousins, nieces and nephews. The family is deeply grateful to the nursing staff of the Acute Monitoring Area (AMA) of the Ottawa General Hospital for their attentive and compassionate care of Paul, as well as to his doctors.
Reflecting Paul’s wishes, a memorial party to celebrate his long and rich life will be held at the end of January. A notice will be sent out shortly as arrangements are finalized. Donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind or the Center for Macular Research at the University of British Columbia.
