In Remembrance

After starting graduate school in Saskatchewan, Milton moved to London, Ontario for a job at Fanshawe College. From there he went on to the University of Toronto where he developed the midwifery course and taught health care administration, a passion that was a pillar of the rest of his life. Toronto was the site Milton’s ten-year long tenure as the Dean of the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University, where he redefined what continuing education meant in an urban location. Under his tenure the department grew from a sleepy outpost of Ryerson Technical College to a central part of Ryerson University's mission and financial model. While in Toronto he also began his 40-year association with the CAUCE.

Those who had the privilege of knowing Milton Orris during the long stretch of his service to university-level continuing education and to CAUCE as an organization will never forget him. He was, as the author(s) of his obituary noted, "larger than life."

Milton's restless enthusiasm and boundless energy made an imprint on every institution and person whose lives he touched, but none more so than on his colleagues at Ryerson and CAUCE. He gave unstintingly of his time and encouraged many others to do so as well. He preceded me as President of CAUCE and spearheaded many projects on which we collaborated, during his presidency and mine: among others, implementing the Award of Recognition to those outside the formal continuing education universe, strengthening the programs to honor outstanding programming and promotional projects, support of the Professional Development workshops, assisting in creating a CAUCE mission statement, and the initiating and strengthening of relations with other associations, in Canada and abroad, devoted to our common goals. When circumstances abruptly caused me to be asked to serve a second term as President, Milton's generous support and offer to assist encouraged me to accept.

His cheerful optimism and positivism induced such in his colleagues. Milton, over his varied career, developed a wide swathe of contacts, and long after he ceased to play an official function he served as something of a permanent ambassador of good will for CAUCE. While encouraging innovation, he had as well a strong respect for what had gone before, and I remember well an AGM session in which he called upon past solons to offer perspective on contemporary issues.

Behind Milton's charm and communicative skills, and often overlooked because of them, lay a keen intellect and an ever-active curiosity that I think are requisite to being a creative continuing education professional. These served him well both before and after his formal service to Ryerson's and CAUCE's cause.

Others may also have shown brightly in the galaxy of CAUCE's  20th-century firmament, but few matched Milton's contributions. And, undeniably, none was more unforgettable. We have lost a great friend and colleague.