Obituary of Duncan Stuart Greenshields

It is with broken hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Duncan Greenshields, with family by his side, on September 21, 2021 at the age of 72.  A devoted husband, Duncan was adored by his wife Elizabeth Spoenlein.   He will be sorely missed by his younger brother  Chris Greenshields (Margaret), mother-in-law Erna, sister-in-law Margriet (Ted Van Erp) and brothers-in-law John (Teressa) and David (Martina) Spoenlein.  Duncan was a cherished uncle to Anna (Eric), John (Mariana) and Janice (Neil) Greenshields and to Jeffrey (Jumana), Rosemary (John), John (Danica), Michael (Tasha), Matthew and Hailey Spoenlein.  He will be missed by his great nephews Parker, Campbell, Zain (Natalia), Aaqil, Kaisan, Bentley and great great-niece Surayah.  He was predeceased by his parents Colin and Dorothy and father-in-law Frank Spoenlein.

Duncan was born in St. Catharines, graduating from Sir Winston Churchill High School and the University of Western Ontario.  He began his career in food service but found his calling upon joining AC Nielsen where he discovered his interest in statistics and analytics.  This led to the launch of his successful Research business, Foreknowledge, which he built together with Elizabeth.

Duncan was a passionate runner, from marathons to sprinting.    He joined Masters Athletics and competed around the world.  A highlight, of which there are many, was setting the 4x400m record in Lyon France in 2015.  His latest project brought together his love of running and statistics as he created  duncanScore, a standardized alternative to age grading.

After bypass surgery in 2018 Duncan returned to the track and competed in his first post-surgery race in August 2021.  Doing what he loved, running with his Masters teammates at the track, he ran his final lap on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning.

Run Duncan run…

The family sincerely thanks his Masters teammates and bystanders who attended to him at the track along with first responders who got him to hospital.  Thanks also to the ER and ICU doctors and nurses at MGH, healthcare heroes holds new meaning.

For those who wish to make a donation in his memory, contributions may be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, Variety Village and the Canadian Memorial College of Chiropractic Dr. Colin A. Greenshields Scholarship.

A private funeral service will take place at Ogden Funeral Home on Sunday October 3 at 2:00 p.m. Due to COVID restrictions attendance is by invitation only.  All are welcome to join Duncan's service via live-streaming - https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=a33d03f7-2f81-4c14-8c7b-905fa0629242