On Sunday Feb 28th, with his beloved wife Rosalind by his side, Keith reached the end of his 7 ½ year ALS journey and died peacefully at Guelph General Hospital.
Keith lived his eighty years to the full. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. J. Slater of Oldham England and at the age of ten passed his eleven plus exam which gave him a foundation scholarship to Manchester Grammar School. He was a Queen’s scout earning the required points in just fifteen months. His higher education took place at Leeds University culminating in a Doctorate in Textile Engineering.
In 1965 he emigrated to Canada with his wife and 2 older daughters after accepting a position as assistant professor of Textile technology in MacDonald Institute, University of Guelph. After the amalgamation of colleges in 1975 he continued to teach as associate professor in the department of consumer studies. On retirement Keith was a professor in the school of engineering and was honoured to receive professor emeritus status.
During his career he travelled extensively worldwide as he was much sought after as a conference speaker in textile circles and was one of the few recipients of the top textile honour the Warner Medal.
His extracurricular activities included playing cricket for the U of G team, keeping fit in the cardiovascular club (which he lead for a number of years) and writing plays, novels and short stories.
He was president of the Canadian Authors’ Association for many years.
His favourite spare time activity was theatre in all its aspects. For thirty five years he was an active member of Guelph Little Theatre participating as actor, director, and techy. He served on the board for ten years in many capacities including two terms as president. When illness made it necessary for Keith to retire from the stage the theatre honoured him with life membership and he also received a mayor’s award for community service to the city of Guelph. In his last performance he won a best actor award at the W.O.D.L. festival in 2008 for his role as Carrick in “A Bed Full of Foreigners”.
Keith took great pride in his family and will be sorely missed by daughters Diane (Robert), Hilary (Ray), Keirsten (Stephen), grandchildren Justin(Jessica). Danielle (Gary), Julian (Amanda) Nick (Lauren) Juliet, Oliver, Iain and Madeleine and his five great grandsons Allistair, Ezekiel, Sebastian, Beckett and Ryder.
During his illness Keith was cared for at home by Rosalind and a devoted team of workers provided by CCAC. The front line workers from Bayshore became his new friends as in true Keith style he joked with them about his illness and infirmities. These people were a true gift with special mention to his primary carers Murray Hayes, Cathy Holden and Michael Taylor.
As his life ebbed to a close Keith was cared for by a team of professional and caring nurses in ICU at Guelph General Hospital. Their absolute dedication was matched by that of Dr. V Shende and Dr. D Raso. One of Keith’s last projects was to write a book entitled “The Joys Of A.L.S” or “Finding Happiness In A Dark Place” in the hope that other sufferers of the disease would read it and gain courage to face the future as he had by finding humour in adversity.
A service of remembrance for Keith will be held at Harcourt United Church on Dean Avenue Guelph on Friday March 11 at 2:00pm. Visitation will be held on Saturday March 5 at Hart’s Chapel Gordon St Guelph from 2 - 4pm and 7 - 9pm. In lieu of flowers donations will be gratefully accepted to the ALS society of Canada, Harcourt Memorial Church or the Keith and Rosalind Slater Tribute Scholarship for an undergraduate student in the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences at the University of Guelph.