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Connor O'Callaghan

Connor  O'Callaghan

March 30, 1990 – July 8, 2018
Suddenly at Halifax, N.S. of Connor Maurice Timothy O’Callaghan of Toronto, age 28, beloved, adored and forever cherished son of Suzanne Marie O’Callaghan (Halifax); dear grandson of Anne Marie (Martin) O’Callaghan (Toronto), Maurice Timothy O’Callaghan (Amherstburg, ON) and the late Cheryl DiPenta; great-grandson of internationally famous Irish musician and band leader Tim Maurice O’Callaghan; beloved godchild of Christine Moss and Sharon Boyce. Left to grieve is a large and heartbroken extended family, including his cousins/friends Tim O’Callaghan, Danny O’Callaghan and Ron Baker, the O’Callaghan, Martin and Donovan families, and countless friends from Toronto, Halifax, P.E.I., Vancouver, New England, New York, Amsterdam, London, Paris and beyond, all of whom he loved deeply and held in his heart as his family. Connor was born in Toronto, Canada and grew up in the village of Mount Stewart, P.E.I. A child prodigy of the violin, he studied violin/fiddle under the tutelage of many of the Maritimes most respected musicians, including the late Buddy MacMaster, and at the Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music on Cape Breton Island. As a little boy he began performing publicly and went on to do so with countless of Canada’s great musicians and artists, performing as well for several CBC programs and specials on radio and television. In 2000 Connor won the CBC/Guardian Great Island Kids award in the personal best category for his devotion to the violin and the formidable amount of charitable work he had accomplished by the tender age of 10. For several years he shared the stage with the late comic/entertainer/musician Urban Carmichael, co-creating one of the region’s most popular and long-running Celtic reviews, based in Orwell Corner, P.E.I. Connor was among the youngest performers to ever play the ECMA’s and the Stan Rogers Festival in Canso, N.S. A highlight of many of his thousands of performances was performing with the band Danu from Ireland. As Connor grew and like his great-grandfather he embraced other instruments, including clarinet and guitar. Music was inextricable from his life. After graduating with honours from Morell Regional High School in 2008, Connor attended Dalhousie University in Halifax from which he graduated with an honours BA in Political Science in 2012. Connor completed his Masters degree in Social and Political Thought at York University and at the time of his passing was working toward the completion of his PhD, the first in his family to ever do so. A month before his passing he presented his work at Oxford Brookes in England, something he loved to do, did extensively in recent years and which academic activities afforded him the opportunity to share his brilliant political and social views with colleagues at many respected academic institutions, including Warwick, Kent, Amsterdam, Paris Law and others, and to forge global intellectual friendships that were precious to him. In addition to teaching and his academic work at York Connor was working as a program coordinator at St. Felix, a low barrier shelter in the heart of Toronto, where Connor was loved by guests and staff for his kindness, excellent judgment, humour, gentleness, compassion and devotion to serving those in need. Connor loved playing and listening to music, cooking and eating out with friends, fine art (especially his mother’s, for which he was the greatest inspiration and most faithful support), making people laugh (he was a great wit), colourful sneakers, good coffee and creating interesting cocktails, animals (especially dogs), riding his bicycle through the streets of cities all over the world, boxing out of Sully’s Gym in Toronto, the writings of Foucault, challenging societal ideologies and norms, research, and using his sparkling intelligence, powerful values and sharp pen to write about injustice, particularly racism and colonial violence toward Indigenous peoples and the environment. Connor O’Callaghan was a beautiful, kind, humble, brilliant, funny, generous, compassionate, creative, understanding, sensitive, diligent, hard-working, loyal, loving, appreciative, honourable man who will be deeply, deeply and forever missed. The world has lost a strong and forceful light, a ray of hope and was blessed by his life. A celebration of Connor’s life will be held on Saturday, July 21st, 2018 at 10 o’clock a.m. at St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church, 6351 North Street (corner of Dublin and North), in Halifax, N.S., followed by internment at Camp Hill Cemetery in downtown Halifax. Online condolences may be made at: www.atlanticfuneralhomes.com Donations in memory of Connor may be made to https://www.gofundme.com/Chocolate-Lake-Drowninv&rcid=r01-15313188041-8cf4689263d341f7&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_m


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