Obituary

Please Click Here to view the Livestream of the Memorial Service for William Robinson

Peacefully, at his home in Toronto, Ontario, on December 17, 2024, William Michael Robinson died after an extended illness in his seventy sixth year.

Bill was the beloved husband of Jacqueline Rankine, the dear father of Michael (Loraine Sunn) and Benjamin, and loving grandfather of Kaitlynn and Ashlyn. Bill will be missed by his sister Debbie Mooney, her husband Rick and their daughter Lori in Kokomo and Greentown, Indiana and his brother Tom Funkhouser, his wife Tracy and their children Terra and Jake of Lafayette, Indiana. Bill was predeceased by his father, William Maurice Robinson, his mother Anna Marie Durham Bothmann, his brother Mark Funkhouser (Harriet), his nieces Heather Purvis and Michelle Lybrook, and his former wife and Michael’s mother Cyndy Robinson (Sagarsee).

Bill came to Canada in opposition to the American war in Vietnam. He was active in community organizing in the areas of injured workers’ and tenants’ rights. He worked in community services and later in government as a paralegal. Bill travelled throughout the province to organize the first union within the early community legal clinic movement and then later served as President of Local 528 when he worked for the Office of the Worker Advisor within the provincial Ministry of Labour. Bill loved genealogy, visiting graveyards and obscure library archives to find his ancestors, American history, computer games, television crime shows, and sailing.

Friends and family can gather at the Cardinal Funeral Homes on Friday January 17 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM.  A memorial service is to immediately follow in the Chapel.

A  link for a YouTube live stream of the memorial is available in the hyperlink at the top of this page.

Special thanks to the staff of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, Paramed, and West Neighbourhood House for their dedicated efforts that allowed Bill to die at home, as he had wished.

The family encourages donations in lieu of flowers to the nonprofit organization of your choice; please select one that promotes that vision of a better world that we hold dear.

Visitation

Date
January 17, 2025
Location
Cardinal Funeral Homes - Bathurst Chapel
Time
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Service

Date
January 17, 2025
Location
Cardinal Funeral Homes - Bathurst Chapel
Time
11:00 AM

Cremation

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January 17, 2025
Greg Raspin
I wish to extend my condolences to you and your family. I’m very sorry for your loss.
January 17, 2025
Gary Fields
My sincere condolences to the family. My thoughts and prayers are with you all during this time. I am very sorry for your loss.
January 13, 2025
Rosemary Tait
I am so sad to hear about Bill's death. He, and Jackie, separately and ultimately together, were big parts of my life for a long time, as friends and work colleagues. My thoughts are with you Jackie, and Michael, who might remember me, and Ben, who won't remember me because he was young when we last visited. Bill was a very special person.
January 09, 2025
Jamey Piedalue
I wish to extend my deepest condolences to Jackie and your entire family. I am very sorry for your loss. Jamey
January 01, 2025
Marion Endicott
I am sorry to hear of Bill's passing. I worked with Bill at Injured Workers' Consultants (now Injured Workers' Community Legal Clinic) for a number of years in the 1970's. In those days we all worked at big beautiful oak desks from the Government storage bank. Two desks were placed face to face and we would share one dial-up phone between two people. And of course photocopying and e-mailing and even the idea of a computer were things of science fiction. Bills desk was kitty corner to mine and it seems to me that he arrived punctually at 9:10 a.m. each morning and with a coffee and sandwich in hand. He was a lead person in the successful effort for staff unionization. A slightly complex project in the middle of a staff collective.
December 29, 2024
Alec Farquhar
Sending my love and support to Bill's family and many friends during this difficult time. I worked with Bill in the legal clinics and then at the Office of the Worker Adviser on behalf of injured workers. Bill combined advocacy skills at the case by case level with organizing skills. He made an important contribution to the struggle of injured workers for justice. He was also funny (sometimes with biting wit) and with a unique perspective on the many injustices in our world. A special person who left his mark on many lives.