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John Abbott College Honours Bert Young
Beloved professor died in 2003 car accident
The Gazette
Monday, October 6, 2008
John Abbott College will unveil a memorial plaque Tuesday (Oct. 6) for Bert Young, an outspoken activist who taught social sciences at John Abbott College for 30 years.
Young died Feb. 12, 2003 in an automobile accident just outside the cegep, near Highway 40 in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. He was 62.
“ Bert taught sociology at John Abbott College ...with a unique passion and a profound appreciation for diversity,” according to a prepared statement from the cegep.
Friends, family – including his son Ryan, a well-known activist who also teaches at John Abbott – students, and colleagues remembered Young as a fun-loving and compassionate educator.
“He was a positive, progressive force for social change in the wider community,” according to the release. “...he was above all committed to students, both in terms of their academic success and in encouraging their critical thinking... .”
The plaque is located beside the American Hackberry tree that was planted in 2003 on the college oval in front of Herzberg building.
Four years ago, the college also set up, and sustained through donations, the John Abbott College Bert Young
Memorial Scholarship Fund which has helped many struggling social science students complete their studies.