Obituary for Lawrence Alan Cragg
Died February 5 at his Burlington home following a brief battle with acute leukemia.
The only child of Ernest and Mabel (Ireland) Cragg, Lawrence, born Feb. 4, 1928, was predeceased by his wife, Dorothy in 2005. He leaves his daughters, Leslie (Frank Palovits) Cragg of Innisfil, Penny (Tom) Burton of Jackson's Point and his partner, Margaret Petrushevsky.
Born and raised within earshot of Big Ben, Lawrence was a dedicated London lad, except for a brief sojourn into the country when city children were evacuated to avoid the blitz in 1939. The day he turned 14 and could legally escape his detested, boring, rural school, he fled back to the city and two years of assorted menial jobs, the most significant as a service technician in a radio/television repair shop where he helped a female BBC staffer build a radio in return for a chance to see the BBC control room. Fascinated, he soon joined the institution as an engineer-in-training with the BBC's engineering college.
In 1946 he signed up for his national service with the Royal Air Force, but despite passing the boards to take pilot training, opted to do two years in aircraft electrical maintenance rather than the mandatory 10 years to earn his wings. Obligation met, he went straight back to his beloved "Auntie BBC" where he became part of the outside broadcast team, humping speakers and booms and all manner of television equipment around the city of London to shoot material for the live programming which resumed after the war.
That was also when he met Dorothy Herbert, the London girl who followed him to Toronto when, in 1953, he impulsively answered an A.V. Roe advertisement for staff to work at their Malton aircraft assembly plant. His British television experience prompted him to try working for the neophyte CBC television system, but doing staff lectures and maintenance on video studio equipment and microwave communications were too different from what he'd known in England and he quit within a year.
From there he entered the research department at Ferranti-Packard in Mount Dennis where his assignments involved such diverse projects as working on Canada's only computer at the time, the mainframe at the University of Toronto, designing and building a nuclear reactor simulator for Chalk River, inventing bar code, designing defense department equipment, and becoming increasingly involved with digital technologies and computers.
In 1965 he was assigned to design an airline passenger reservation system for an Australian airline and went "down under" with his family for a year to see the system through the teething process. While he thoroughly enjoyed the Aussies, his family's unhappiness with that country prompted them to return to Canada.
When Ferranti was sold, Lawrence formed his own firm to create specialized computer systems for industrial needs. With three fellow Ferranti staffers as partners, he set up TekLogix Inc., in Brampton in 1967 to serve national and international clients. Even before he retired in 1996, he taught computer programming at Humber College for several years.
Despite his dedication to work, Lawrence made time to play. From flight school at Buttonville in 1953 to sailing on Georgian Bay with other TekLogix staffers, driver training as Mossport, and river cruises in northern Europe, he loved to be active. He began motorcycling as a teen in England and continued in Canada, the United States and most recently with the mountain tours in Europe, only giving up his beloved Honda VFR in 2015. His most recent and enduring retirement hobby began when he joined the Burlington Radio-Controlled Model Airplane Club in 1996. He held numerous executive positions with the club throughout the years, most recently creating their original website. In addition to his hobbies, he was dedicated to his furry felines and had he had his way, his home would have been full of them.
Sincerest thanks to Grant O’Shea, Dave Carter, doctors Rizk, Christjanson, and Pyle, and staff of the Joseph Brant hospital emergency department and palliative care team for their generous help and support through our crisis.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ontario Humane Society. Cremation has taken place and a private funeral will be held in the spring.
The only child of Ernest and Mabel (Ireland) Cragg, Lawrence, born Feb. 4, 1928, was predeceased by his wife, Dorothy in 2005. He leaves his daughters, Leslie (Frank Palovits) Cragg of Innisfil, Penny (Tom) Burton of Jackson's Point and his partner, Margaret Petrushevsky.
Born and raised within earshot of Big Ben, Lawrence was a dedicated London lad, except for a brief sojourn into the country when city children were evacuated to avoid the blitz in 1939. The day he turned 14 and could legally escape his detested, boring, rural school, he fled back to the city and two years of assorted menial jobs, the most significant as a service technician in a radio/television repair shop where he helped a female BBC staffer build a radio in return for a chance to see the BBC control room. Fascinated, he soon joined the institution as an engineer-in-training with the BBC's engineering college.
In 1946 he signed up for his national service with the Royal Air Force, but despite passing the boards to take pilot training, opted to do two years in aircraft electrical maintenance rather than the mandatory 10 years to earn his wings. Obligation met, he went straight back to his beloved "Auntie BBC" where he became part of the outside broadcast team, humping speakers and booms and all manner of television equipment around the city of London to shoot material for the live programming which resumed after the war.
That was also when he met Dorothy Herbert, the London girl who followed him to Toronto when, in 1953, he impulsively answered an A.V. Roe advertisement for staff to work at their Malton aircraft assembly plant. His British television experience prompted him to try working for the neophyte CBC television system, but doing staff lectures and maintenance on video studio equipment and microwave communications were too different from what he'd known in England and he quit within a year.
From there he entered the research department at Ferranti-Packard in Mount Dennis where his assignments involved such diverse projects as working on Canada's only computer at the time, the mainframe at the University of Toronto, designing and building a nuclear reactor simulator for Chalk River, inventing bar code, designing defense department equipment, and becoming increasingly involved with digital technologies and computers.
In 1965 he was assigned to design an airline passenger reservation system for an Australian airline and went "down under" with his family for a year to see the system through the teething process. While he thoroughly enjoyed the Aussies, his family's unhappiness with that country prompted them to return to Canada.
When Ferranti was sold, Lawrence formed his own firm to create specialized computer systems for industrial needs. With three fellow Ferranti staffers as partners, he set up TekLogix Inc., in Brampton in 1967 to serve national and international clients. Even before he retired in 1996, he taught computer programming at Humber College for several years.
Despite his dedication to work, Lawrence made time to play. From flight school at Buttonville in 1953 to sailing on Georgian Bay with other TekLogix staffers, driver training as Mossport, and river cruises in northern Europe, he loved to be active. He began motorcycling as a teen in England and continued in Canada, the United States and most recently with the mountain tours in Europe, only giving up his beloved Honda VFR in 2015. His most recent and enduring retirement hobby began when he joined the Burlington Radio-Controlled Model Airplane Club in 1996. He held numerous executive positions with the club throughout the years, most recently creating their original website. In addition to his hobbies, he was dedicated to his furry felines and had he had his way, his home would have been full of them.
Sincerest thanks to Grant O’Shea, Dave Carter, doctors Rizk, Christjanson, and Pyle, and staff of the Joseph Brant hospital emergency department and palliative care team for their generous help and support through our crisis.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ontario Humane Society. Cremation has taken place and a private funeral will be held in the spring.