Murray Nicolson: 1926-2003.

Murray Nicolson passed away In Newmarket, ON, on December 9, 2003, at age 77. He is survived by his wife, Doris, and their six children.

Murray, a graduate of St. Jerome' s College, loved history, especially the social history of the Catholic Irish in nineteenth century Ontario. His doctoral thesis (for the University of Guelph) was precisely on that topic, The Catholic Church and the Irish in Toronto.

Murray did work in areas such as the history of the (Mackenzie) King family, but his heart and pride was in tracing the development and the gathering strength of the Catholic communities, Irish and Scots, in Canada. He had no use for Marxist or secularist interpretations reducing religion to the margins of Canadian society. On the contrary, he regarded men such as Toronto's early Catholic bishops, Michael Power and Francois de Charbonnel, as heroes and saints.

When Catholic Insight magazine asked him to write a general series of articles on the history of Catholics in English-speaking Canada, he set to it with alacrity and produced some fine articles covering Newfoundland, the Maritimes and Ontario. Beyond those borders, however, he felt unqualified to write.

Murray was a dedicatededucator, teaching for a number of years at Wilfrid Laurier University where a Memorial Bursary has been established in his name.

He was a long-time member of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association. May he rest in peace.