Robert Côté (UL)



You may have known Robert as Bob or as RB, if you were a fellow air traffic controller, or as Bobby, if you were part of the large Côté family, or maybe as Uncle Bob. I knew him as Dad.

   Long before I came to be, my dad had a son, Patrick (Anne-Marie). The relationship was sadly fractured but Bob was a proud grandpa of Pierce and Preston.    Mom was 28 when she met a 23-year-old Bob. It was not the 90-day wonder they expected but a 30+ year mostly loving, sometimes bumpy, relationship that brought me, his daughter, into the world. My greatest memory of the two of them together is when they were playfully splashing each other in our pool and, in that moment, they were the only two people in the world.

   After my mom, Marlene Graetz, died 16+ years ago from lung cancer, a close friend of hers, Judy, who I have known since grade school, adopted Dad and I for holiday meals. After Judy's husband passed away nine years ago, Judy and my dad formed a relationship. They took several trips in his RV and had a beautiful companionship.

   Bob spent the last five weeks of his life receiving excellent care at the Jewish General Hospital. He contracted an atypical listeria infection which might not have hit him so hard if he hadn't been approaching end stage non-alcoholic liver disease.

   Thank you to Dr. Roman Rozencwaig for all you did for the family before you retired and to Dr. Eva Chadnova for the care you provided my dad thereafter. Thank you to Dr. Nir Hilzenrat for the Hepatology expertise. Thank you to the teams of the Jewish General's ER, Internal Medicine, ICU and Palliative Care units.

   Bob leaves to mourn his cherished daughter Vanessa (Dany), girlfriend Judy, sisters Suzanne and Manon Robyn, brother-in-law Andy (Micheline), cousins, nieces, nephews, work buddies, his neighbour George and his beloved dog, who will miss him dearly.

   Thank you, Dad, for providing me a soft place to land, the salad dressing recipe I will never tire of and the great Dad Hugs. I will miss exchanging our daily good night texts.

   There will not be a funeral. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jewish General Hospital, Diabetes Canada or the Canadian Liver Foundation.