Obituary of Mr. Gilbert Fadel

Gilbert Mansour Fadel, 87, died peacefully at Credit Valley Hospital on December 3, 2020.

Beloved and loving husband of 58 years to Madeleine Rehayem Fadel, Father to Youssef Fadel (Laurie) of Amherst, MA, Françoise Fadel-Haddad (Ziad) of Mississauga, ON and Hyame Fadel-Jardine (David), of Pickering ON.  Loving Grandfather to Joseph, Michael and Christian.

Brother to Georgette Fadel; predeceased by siblings Georges Fadel, Gisèle Fadel and Gabriel Fadel.

Beloved uncle to his many nieces and nephews and their families in Canada, Egypt, the US, Lebanon, Denmark and the Netherlands

Gilbert was born and grew up in Zagazig, Egypt. He was a Scout and Leader with the Wadi el Nil Scout group.  He graduated from Ein Shams University in engineering.   He and Madeleine were married in 1962 and lived in Beirut. As the family grew, they moved to Zouk Mikael, where they stayed until 1976, when his firm moved to Athens, Greece.  The family lived there for 13 years, then immigrated to Canada.

His career took him all over the world, but family always came first, whenever he could he would arrange for the family to join him, providing the opportunity for the family to experience living for a time in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and London.  A career engineer who was as meticulous with preparing appetizers as he was with his work projects. When is work moved to Athens, Gilbert continued to travel for his work, but whenever he was home, he would arrange for weekend trips to discover the country and its culture. Those trips were taken alongside work colleagues, creating lifelong friendships and a much richer life. Once in Canada, Gilbert worked briefly and eventually retired, content to support his family in other ways. He was always providing guidance, giving a helpful hand and offering a sympathetic ear to whoever needed it. Active in his church, he started volunteering with the Knights of Columbus, taking on many roles and eventually serving as Grand Knight and 4^th Degree Member. He loved this community work, and took great pride in being able to serve alongside his fellow Knights.

He was quiet, determined, and always smiling. He loved having his family around him as much as possible. He was just as happy to participate as he was to sit and observe, or even enjoy a snooze in his chair even as conversation went on around him.  In the last few years, you could tell he was happiest surrounded by his wife and children and grandchildren and was thrilled when family came to visit or was at an extended family gathering. He was happy at Credit River Retirement Residence, regardless of how he was feeling he always had a smile for his caregivers, staff and residents.  

We would like to thank the doctors and care team at Credit Valley Hospital who took care of him in his last days and providing us with compassion and care in this hard time.  We also want to thank the caregivers and all the staff at Credit River Retirement residence for taking such wonderful care of him and ensuring he was happy and safe and surrounded by caring people.

Whether we called him Gilbert, Bero, Papa, Jeddo, Ammo, Khalo, Oncle, Chef, friend, colleague or Brother Knight, we have been blessed with his presence in our lives.  He led an eventful, brave and full life. We are grateful for the experiences he gave us and the steady hand that guided us.  He will be missed terribly, but he has left us all with wonderful memories to make us smile.