Adi Dastur – my very dear friend of 50years
Adi Dastur – my very dear friend of 50years – passes away.
The Parsi community worldwide needs to know about this unassuming Canadian ‘atomic scientist’.
When I arrived in Toronto in 1964 as a new immigrant, Adi, who was at that time working at G.E. in Peterborough, Ont., would drive into Toronto every Friday evening and spend the weekend with me & another new Zoroastrian émigré, taking us around in his car, showing us his beloved Toronto.
A great Parsi diaspora atomic scientist. An unassuming soul, full of fun & jokes, with a wide range of interests spanning from the atom to music, woodwork who loved the theatre, opera, museums and travel. He also was an excellent cook – from Parsi to International cuisines.
He will be sorely missed by his wide circle of Toronto friends in general and the Toronto Zoroastrian community in particular. His funeral service was overflowing with the Toronto Parsi community & AECL scientists. His Obituary in the ‘Globe & Mail’ is attached.
Edul Kanga.
I suspect nobody will see this, but I had to add a few thoughts after finding an old letter from Adi. I knew him as my boss’ boss when I did a workterm at AECL in 1984. I never would have dared to call him Adi, but I am now older than when I knew him, so it seems fair. I recall him as a little man with whitening hair and piercing eyes and an easy friendly mannor. Everything you would hope to find in a thoughtful scientific thinker. My immediate supervisor was big, loud, funny, and opinionated and it was always amusing watch Adi chatting with this very different person, sometimes trying to keep up with or mimic his gruff style. I was invited to continue my next workterm in Adi’s group, but it would have been a double workterm and I wanted to experience different things. I think I was also being recruited for employment on graduation which I very much was not ready for, though in a fairer, more sensible universe it would have perhaps been the best outcome. In 1991 I was fininshing my first postdoc and was somewhat in a panic for what I would do next. I sent a sort of message in a bottle to Adi and he gracioiusly responded, offering advice and asked for me to drop by for a visit. I never responded, having managed to wrangle a second postdoc. I regret not keeping in touch. When you are young you often don’t appreciate people worth keeping as friends, even if they are far away and not in your field.