David Ellis Hepburn

David Ellis Hepburn
Senior Life Member IEEE, Fellow and Life Member IEE (U.K.)

David Ellis Hepburn passed away on March 25, 2022 from natural causes at his home in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
David was born on December 14, 1930 in Cardiff, Wales and spent his formative years at the side of his grandfather and pal, Arthur Ellis, learning what was to become his lifelong career, the field of electrical engineering. David graduated from the University of Stafford in 1952 and was completing an internship with English Electric in Stafford, England when he met his partner in life, Diana Wendy MacKay. David and Diana were married in January 1957 and shortly thereafter they set sail for their new life in Canada. They eventually settled in Montreal where David worked for Hydro Quebec as a systems design engineer. In 1965, David joined the H.G. Acres Consulting firm office in Montreal and was part of the design and construction team for the Churchill Falls Hydro Plant in Labrador. In 1969, David was introduced to the world of international assignments and the Hepburn clan, which now included two daughters (Alison and Suzanne), packed up their household and moved to what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year assignment building the East-West Interconnector transmission lines. From that point forward David spent the remainder of his career with Acres travelling the globe on a wide variety of projects. Some assignments were several months in duration and others were multi-year affairs, including a year on the Tarbela Dam project in northern Pakistan; three years spent in Lahore, Pakistan; one year in Kathmandu, Nepal; and other far-flung corners of the world such as Sudan, Laos, Indonesia, and Lucknow, India. Diana accompanied David on all the longer duration projects and over the years they became very adept at setting up a new household and making endless friends among the expatriate communities. David “retired” in 1994 from Acres but, as any of you who knew David can well imagine, full retirement was not in the cards for many years to come. For the following ten years David provided his invaluable consulting services to various agencies such as the World Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency and his travels continued. For several years David volunteered with the Canadian Executive Services Organization and worked on small hydro projects in Honduras and Guatemala. David’s collection of expired passports tell the story of a life full of adventure and good works. He touched and enriched many lives around the globe.
David’s ever inquisitive mind and desire to help shape the next generation of engineers and explorers led him to his final role as a mentor for teachers and their students. He spent ten years volunteering with the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), judging science fairs in the Niagara region, staffing an information booth at the annual teacher's convention in Toronto, and writing lesson plans for educators to use as classroom teaching aids. He was always impressed with the creativity of the students he met. On any given day, David was to be found at his computer researching and typing up ideas to keep the grey matter active and hopefully share his keen interest in the world around him.
David and Diana just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary and were a true left hand-right hand pair for each other. They were always up for the next travel assignment and their shared interests in other cultures and lands made their partnership a true success. Throughout their married life they hosted many a memorable Christmas and February Blahs party where old and new friends could gather and catch up on each other’s busy lives. Many of these friendships endure to this day and happy memories will be cherished.
Despite his active career, David always found time for his daughters and grandchildren and many a happy day was spent sailing in small crafts built by David on family trips to Prince Edward Island and then, later, on larger sail boats on Lake Ontario. His lovingly restored 1928 Chevy, nicknamed Betsy, also provided enormous joy to the kids, tootling around the vineyards of Niagara. David never tired of sharing his zest for life with his family. Holidays to Disney Land, Barbados, Montana, and the West Coast of Canada were always full of activity, exploration, and high fives. David took great pride in the accomplishments of his grandchildren and followed their academic and life pursuits with much pleasure, always there with encouragement and support.
David is survived by his wife Diana of 65 years; his daughters Alison Hepburn of Niagara-on the Lake and Suzanne Hepburn (Don Booth) of Bozeman Montana; grandchildren Megan Zetlian (Tro Zetlian) of Stouffville, Ontario; David Seymour of Guelph, Ontario; Samantha Booth (Mike Veselik) of Bozeman, Montana; and Karen Booth (Tevin Dial) of Seattle, Washington; and great-grandchildren Jonathan and Penelope Zetlian.
David was preceded in death by his son-in-law, Alison’s husband, Dave Galloway.
We were lucky to know David as a friend, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather but most importantly as a role model for all of us on how to approach life with open eyes, mind and heart, to live life to the fullest and always take on new challenges, never to be defeated or settle for status quo. You are already greatly missed.
A Celebration of Life will be held later this year. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome in David’s memory to the fund of your choice at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Engineering. Funeral Arrangements have been entrusted to the MORGAN FUNERAL HOME, 415 Regent Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, 905-468-3255. www.morganfuneral.com