In Memory of My Dad

By Pascal Dennis

My dad, Frank, passed away last week.

Restaurateur, raconteur, father & husband.

He was 89 years old and had suffered from dementia the past five years.

It's a time of relief, as well as, sorrow. Dementia is a terrible disease.

Difficult seeing an old warrior suffer so, and especially hard on my mother.

Dad gave us a great deal:

Humor, drive, love of learning, love of family, faith, honesty, compassion for those in trouble, tenacity, courage and a sense of justice.

He was the model for Nick Papas in Andy & Me and The Remedy.

Dad's restaurant, the Imperial Grill, a celebrated joint on Queen Street East in Toronto, was where I began to learn the fundamentals of management.

Here are a few lines I wrote a few years ago:

Bless the gods that made him ornery

Bless his leathery heart

Bless the healing years of laughter & forgetting.

Sleep well, old fighter.

Pascal