Malcolm Mcgrath

Malcolm McGrath died on January 6, 2021 at Andy’s House, the palliative care facility in Port Carling, Ontario, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinsonism and cancer. He was in his 89th year, and leaves behind his beloved husband David; children Anne (Paul), Malcolm Jr. (Barbara), Michael (Pam), and Amy (Ruth); grandchildren Amy (Andrew), Sarah, Meghan, Hailey, Jake, Helen, and Oscar; and great-granddaughter Alexandra. Malcolm was born in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto in the midst of the Great Depression. He attended Norway School and Malvern Collegiate, then went on to graduate in Civil Engineering from The University of Toronto in 1954. In October of that year he married Joy Perry, a graduate of Victoria University. Malcolm was a man of many talents, and had three very distinct but equally successful careers. In 1961 he founded McGrath Engineering, and over the next two decades established an excellent reputation for building mostly bank branches and restaurants throughout Southern Ontario. In 1982 he was appointed the first Assistant Dean, Alumni Relations by The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at U of T. In that role he greatly strengthened the faculty’s connections with its graduates and achieved notable success in fund-raising. Malcolm’s other job was completely different. He was very musical, and studied piano as a boy at The Royal Conservatory. But his real interest was in the organ because of its mechanical complexity. In the 1950s he began studying that instrument with David Ouchterlony, and in 1956 was appointed Assistant Organist & Choirmaster at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, a post he held until 1988. Malcolm was a life member of both The Royal Canadian Yacht Club and The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, for which he composed the scores for a series of comic operettas for his close friend Dr. Jim Parr, who provided the libretti. The family wish to thank Malcolm’s caregivers, especially Dr. Bharti Mittal and Dr. Rohit Gupta of Bracebridge, as well as the skilled and dedicated staff at Andy’s House and South Muskoka Memorial Hospital. Donations to these organizations in his memory are invited.