Obituary of Eric Brian Dayton

            On May 18^th, Eric Dayton died in the Palliative Care Unit of St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, surrounded by his loving partner of 33 years, Emer O’Hagan, and his two children, Amy Sky (wife of Bryan Bot, mother of Odessa Sky Bot), and Kirsten Dika (wife of Jen Dika).  He is survived by his sisters: Derry Neufeld, Kristina Staros, Tonya Staros, and Aruna Dayton.  His death was the result of two debilitating hemorrhagic strokes, the first on April 1^st. 

            Eric was born in Ithaca, New York, on April 27^th, 1946 to Carol Dayton (nee Dorothy) and Bruce Dayton.  As a child he lived in many different parts of the United States.  His physicist father was caught up in false accusations of communism in the McCarthy era and faced discrimination and job loss, even being denied a passport on the grounds that he was a risk to national security.  Ultimately, through a Supreme Court ruling in 1958, Eric’s Dad won the right to a passport and shortly thereafter the family left for Switzerland.  In Switzerland, Eric attended an international boarding school that he loved, Ecole d’Humanite, where students did yearly week-long camping trips in the mountains, read verses from Goethe and Nietzsche at mealtimes, and studied topics of their own interest.  He spent several teenage years in Copenhagen, Denmark, picking up Danish quickly, discovering jazz, and learning to smoke.  He often recalled with pleasure how his dearly beloved stepmother, Bette Lee Dayton, took him to the opera or ballet as a teen, and taught him to cook and sew.  His last two years of high school were spent in what was then called Bombay, India, where fellow students found him to be immensely cool because he read poetry and smoked.  He then caught a freight ship back to the US (passing through the Panama Canal en route) to do an undergraduate degree in Bellingham, Washington where he made many lifelong friends.

            Eric’s varied and challenging teen age years left him an insightful person, able to appreciate different perspectives, traditions, and outlooks.  He was a natural philosopher.  After finishing his PhD in Philosophy at Western University, he had a one-year position at Rutger’s University.  The following year he was very happy to accept a position in Canada.  He had a long and accomplished career, working in the Philosophy Department at the University of Saskatchewan for over 40 years, and serving as the editor of the official journal of the Canadian Philosophical Association for over 12 years.  He was uncommonly broad in his interests and talents, teaching and publishing in areas as diverse as advanced logic, aesthetics, epistemology, and Descartes studies.  He made significant contributions on the work of the American pragmatist, C.I. Lewis.  Eric loved teaching Critical Thinking (a course for which he wrote a textbook) and would regularly encounter former students who had taken it years before, full of appreciation for such a useful and interesting class.  Eric valued contributing to worthy shared goals and was in it for the good, not the recognition.  He played a large role in the Philosophy Department’s community outreach program, Philosophy in the Community for 17 years, offering lectures on many topics, and making coffee and delicious cookies.    

            A truly well-rounded person, Eric was an intellectual, a person who enjoyed the outdoors, a decent rough carpenter, and an excellent cook.  He was an accomplished stained-glass artist and later in life turned to fused glass, painting and drawing.  Fortunate friends and family enjoyed his elaborate Indian dishes, wonderful pies and jams.  Eric enjoyed gardening and helped out at the community garden whenever he could.  He loved classical music, audiobooks, and movies.  Eric read broadly, but in later years most enjoyed science fiction and fantasy; he was a lover of hobbits.  He enjoyed going for a beer with friends.  He was proud and supportive of Amy’s and Kirsten’s pursuits and enjoyed spending time with them and their families.  He was a committed atheist and socialist who wanted a fairer and kinder world.  He tried to live in an environmentally responsible way and advocated for better climate control strategies.  He was generous in caring for his own father as he aged and needed assistance, and he cared deeply and capably for Emer’s parents towards the ends of their lives.  His final seven weeks were filled with loss and pain, but he took it in stride, finding no reason to make a difficult situation worse by struggling against it.  His attitude and strength were admirable and allowed him to enjoy the affection and kindness he received from friends, family and health care workers.

            Eric will be greatly missed for his good humour, kindness, and interesting, lively mind.  A celebration of life will be organized in the near future to mark the life and contributions of this beautiful man.