Weinstein, John
Dr. John David Weinstein
November 13, 1951 - March 10, 2026John took his last breath at the age of 74 at Hospice Wellington in Guelph, two months after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. During that time, he remained gracious, lighthearted, and connected to those around him.
John was one of a kind. A brilliant physicist, he delighted in figuring things out. He often said he loved being in a state of confusion because it led to better understanding when a problem was solved. He turned things over and over until a solution revealed itself.
John was a builder and fixer. He fixed aircraft as a teen, rebuilt cars as a young man, built play structures for his two children Karl and Erin, planted large vegetable gardens, and, as the owner of Inclined Elevation, designed and built more than 130 hillside elevators scattered throughout Ontario and Quebec. Shortly before his death, the first trans-Canadian Inclined Elevation lift was shipped to British Columbia.
He loved his work at Inclined: the design challenge, working with the terrain, getting to know his many appreciative customers, and relentlessly improving the quality, safety, and performance of the lifts. Days before leaving us, he continued to think of ways to refine the computer code.
When John wasn't playing with ideas, he liked to tell bad jokes to draw attention to the absurd. He often delighted anyone who cared to listen. During his final weeks, he entertained the medical staff at hospitals and hospice with his unconventional sense of humour. When one nurse asked if she could get him anything, John replied with a smile, “A new esophagus?”
Born in Sydney, Australia to Karel and Shirley Weinstein, he spent a short time as a toddler in Fiji then five years in Edmonton before growing up in Ottawa. His parents wanted John and his brothers to be well educated. Though it was a stretch, all three boys went to Ridley College, a private boarding school in St. Catharines, Ontario.
John went into physics in large part because he couldn't figure people out and wanted to understand fundamental truths about the universe. He studied sub-atomic particle physics as a graduate student and earned a PhD from the University of Toronto, then taught for a decade at two universities in the southern United States before returning to Ontario.
He met Leslie, who would later be the mother of his two children, on the University of Toronto rowing team. They were together for 23 years, apart for 23 more, and, remarkably, reconciled their differences. Those final weeks were a time of love and healing for all.
John leaves behind many people who loved him, including his two children, Karl Weinstein (Michelle) and Erin Cameron; six grandchildren: Aila, Evelyn, Fiona, Arianna, Ronan, and Kayden; two brothers, Peter (Debra) and Luke, and niece Tara; and two former partners, Leslie Cameron (Tony) and Esther Childs. He will be fondly remembered by many friends, employees, and customers in the Bracebridge/Gravenhurst area.
A quirky, brilliant, loveable, caring, playful, thoughtful man, John wrote this once he knew his time was coming to an end:
We will all have a day that has no tomorrow. I have had that day.
Still, we all live on in the contributions we have made, in the lives we have touched, in the people who remember us.
My wish is that you are not sad because I am no longer alive. My wish is that I live on in you, and that you are glad that you knew me.
May you all have many tomorrows.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to Hospice Wellington in Guelph or the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation
