Sep 24, 1920 – June 28, 2025
On the eve of his 105th birthday, Ovid Avarmaa passed away peacefully surrounded by the attentive care of Jasmine Anglade and her team at the Emilie Gamelin nursing home where he had been living for six months.
Ovid, the son of Elizabeth Sock and Niilo Avarmaa, a captain in the merchant navy, Ovid was born on September 24th, 1920 in Tartu, Estonia. He was destined for International Law with jazz music as a personal passion. He formed a summer orchestra to which young people danced on the beach of Tartu.
The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted his studies. During the Russian invasion of Estonia, he joined the resistance group The Sons of the Forest and then took refuge in Sweden and chose a musical career as an accompanist in night clubs.
He continued this career when he arrived in Canada and then taught music at Dawson College, passing on to his students his passion for jazz and for classical music and
orchestration. In addition, Avarmaa was the conductor of the Montreal Youth Choir.
In 1979, he participated in the founding of the Montreal Zen Centre, directed by Albert Low. He adopted Buddhist philosophy and the practice of Zazen.
An avid polyglot reader in Estonian, French, English, German, and Finnish, he added the language of the Portuguese quarter, his place of residence for years, a neighbourhood where, with his wife Céline, he chose to walk the streets and frequently visited his favourite fish restaurant. An experienced amateur oenologist, he gladly shared the wines of his modest cellar with his family and friends.
To invoke his memory, listen to ‘Body and Soul' by Coleman Hawkins.
Donations to the SPCA would be appreciated.
This obituary was originally published in the Montreal Gazette.
