Lucien Delean

Northern Ontario has lost one of its leading lights.

North Bay architect Lucien Delean died May 11, family at his side, after a brief illness. He would have been 93 in June. Over the course of a career of almost 70 years, Lucien and the architectural firm he co-founded with the late Norm Critchley created and reimagined thousands of buildings over a vast territory that extended as far west as Rainy River, south to Huntsville, north to Moosonee and east to the Quebec border. They included 400 elementary and secondary schools, almost 200 hospitals (among them the North Bay Regional Health Centre), and local landmarks such as the Head Office of Ontario Northland, Harbourside condominiums and the North Bay courthouse. Pick a town - any town - on a map of the north, and there's a good chance it has one or more of their buildings.

Born in Iroquois Falls and raised there and in Kirkland Lake, Lucien was the fourth of eight children of Georgette and Albert Delean. He studied at the University of Toronto School of Architecture, graduating in 1954 at the top of a class that included architecture icon Raymond Moriyama, and returned to the north to work initially for a firm in Sudbury, then in North Bay. He and Critchley, an acquaintance who'd played alongside him in his father's chamber orchestra in Kirkland Lake, teamed up to launch their own firm in North Bay in 1955. From an office of two, with drafting tables made of old doors, it gradually grew into one of Northern Ontario's most successful and enduring firms. The torch was passed to younger partners when Norm Critchley retired in 2007, but Lucien continued to work full-time until just weeks before his death. "Haven't missed a day of work in 69 years," he told healthcare workers who attended to him at home.

A true Renaissance man, he painted and sketched, played the cello and was proficient at sports, including golf, squash and tennis. He loved fine art, jazz and classical music, and the Montreal Canadiens. Nothing made him prouder than his Franco-Ontarian heritage and the families he was born into and created. Despite a demanding professional schedule, he also was active in the community, taking a leading role with organizations such as the North Bay Arts Centre, Compagnons des Francs-Loisirs, Kiwanis Music Festival, Community Concerts Association, library board and North Bay YMCA, where he was a volunteer French teacher for two years in the 1970s and still played squash well into his 80s. He was a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and a longtime member of the Ontario Arts Council.

Predeceased by siblings Therese, Micheline, Rollande, George and Denise, he is survived by wife Norma Clumpus Delean, his five children with Anita Kivinen, Paul, Peter (Pam), Matthew (Marina), Adam (Christiane) and Susan (Larry), sister Suzanne and brother Raymond, Norma's children Joey, Karen and Jenny, 11 grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.

Visitation will be Friday, May 26 from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. and Saturday, May 27th from 10 a.m. to 12 pm at Hillside Funeral Services, 362 Airport Road, followed by a funeral service for family.

Donations can be made to the North Bay Food Bank - one of countless local buildings Lucien modernized - or Nipissing Serenity Hospice, which provided such compassionate final care.