Monday, January 6, 2025
I'm very sorry to hear of Bryan's passing. When I first arrived at Dalhousie University in 1995, I quickly became tasked with building a new Biomedical Engineering program, just as Dalhousie and TUNS were merging. It was a formidable task on many levels, but when starting any new endeavour, one of the first questions is how and if the program could pay for itself. As I spoke with administrator after administrator at both universities about how money flowed from student registrations to Faculty and Departmental units, it became clear that just about nobody understood how it all worked. But over and over people said to me, "You have to talk with Bryan Mason". I didn't know who that was, but eventually I managed to get a meeting. What followed was an enormously generous, clear-headed, ongoing tutorial on how the finances of a university work. For a few years, Bryan was my wise guide and mentor—sort of Gandalf to my Frodo. I enjoyed my time with him enormously: not just because of what and how I was learning, but because Bryan seemed to me a really good and worthy servant of the university and a genuine friend to those burdened with working there. I've met few individuals like Bryan during my nearly 30 years at Dal. I admired him and enjoyed his company; and I'm genuinely sorry to learn that he's gone. RIP, sir.
