ROWNTREE, Paul Andrew

It is with great sadness that the Rowntree family announces that Paul
passed away in his Guelph home on Monday, July 27, 2020 at the age of 60.
Paul was the beloved husband of Anne Rowntree (McKnight) for almost 35
years and the proud and loving father of Christopher and Maria. He was the
dearly loved son of the late Mary and Keith Rowntree of Varna and brother
of Rosemary (husband Stephen), Christopher (partner Joanne) and Peter
Rowntree (wife Teresa). Paul adored his nephew Alan Rowntree (partner
Shelby) and his nieces Alison and Andrea Rowntree, and Genevieve McKnight.
He was the cherished son-in-law of Catherine McKnight and brother-in-law
of Mary McKnight, (husband Ken), Liana Yuyun (partner Mike), Paul McKnight
and the late John McKnight. Paul was the first cousin of Rae (wife Susan)
and Paul Zimmer (wife Brenda).

Paul grew up in London, Ontario and attended the University of Waterloo
where he completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in chemistry. After finishing his
Ph.D. at Princeton University, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at
l' Université de Sherbrooke (Département de Médecine Nucléaire et
Radiobiologie). In 1992, he became a Faculty member in the Département de
Chimie where he enjoyed working as a teacher and researcher for fourteen
years. Paul became a Chemistry Professor at the University of Guelph in
2006, and he served as Chair of the department for the past seven years.
During his career, Paul's research studied the reaction dynamics of
molecules interacting with solid surfaces. He also worked with industrial
partners to improve the refining of metals such as nickel and to develop a
new approach for fuel cell engines to improve fuel efficiency and decrease
the impact of transportation on climate change. Paul's passion for both
his teaching and his research, as well as his deep commitment to helping
his students, colleagues and department be more successful, fuelled his
drive to work hard throughout his career. His good humour and tremendous
sense of fairness made him an invaluable colleague and friend.

Paul was a truly good, caring, thoughtful and intelligent human being - a
true gentleman. He was genuinely interested in the stories and experiences
of the people that he met, and he was always ready to share a humorous and
relevant anecdote, joke or a pun. A friend described him as being a
'Renaissance Man'. He was a true life-long learner who was always
inquisitive and passionate in his quest for knowledge and an understanding
of how things worked. Paul was always dedicated and persistent in
approaching any challenge whether it was cycling across Canada,
negotiating the tides while paddling the Inside Passage, improving his
French language skills so that he could teach in Quebec, building a CNC
woodworking machine, or learning to sail which gave him great pleasure in
recent years. In his final days, Paul spoke of his gratitude for the life
that he had had. Even though he wished that it could have been longer,
that there could have been 'more', he felt that he could not have had a
better one. He would want us to remember that life can unexpectantly
change in a minute, so we should appreciate each day and always remember
to 'leave a clean wake'.

Those wishing to make a donation in memory of Paul are asked to consider
the Foundation of Guelph General Hospital and the Canadian Cancer Society.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at the Rowntree family farm
near Varna in the fall. To receive information about this event, please
email [email protected]