I was saddened to see Claire's obituary in the Globe and Mail. I am grateful that the family had it published there so that former students like myself could see it. I was a, not so gifted, student of his at Westwood Secondary (now Lincoln Alexander SS I believe) many years ago. In fact I was absolutely dreadful in math and as any who knew him realize, he did not suffer fools lightly. However, for me, he was incredibly patient, knowing that while I was never going to be a math and science major... he nevertheless ensured I knew enough to find my way, which I did. As a teacher and mentor he was more than a math teacher, he was an innovator and simply drew the best and brightest both teachers and students to him because they knew he could make them better. That math department was a bonafide powerhouse and many of my fellow graduates who did study math in university found it disappointing that many of their university profs did not hold a candle to him or colleagues like Ray Novak. His insistence on teaching matriculation calculus in a lecture format to help prepare folks for university was likely seen as grandstanding by some fellow faculty, but it certainly paid off for the learners. He got students interested in investing and the stock market long, long before it was done elsewhere. And yes on top of all that he was oddly cool. He always had the newest and the fastest car in the parking lot ( I recall a Camero Z28) and did not liked to be called mister. In 1975 that was pretty radical thinking in a high school. The one thing to me that is outstanding about all his accomplishments (with the support of a great principal, Ken Teeter) is that he did it with a bunch of working class, largely immigrant kids, for whom virtually none of their parents had gone to university and at a time when there were still lots of factory jobs, many right down the street from the school. And yet, the number of kids in that small 1975 graduating class who went on to become successful professionals is pretty astounding. There were only about 70 of us and while I certainly never kept track of everyone, I can think of 4 university professors, an IBM vice president, four engineers, two medical doctors, several bank executives, about 6 teachers and heck, I became a university registrar, quite astounding given my math skills:) This is not to say Claire Zeller did all the heavy lifting, but he sure made sure everyone had a chance to succeed. He is the third former department head from Westwood that I know we lost in 2016, (Mike Teague, Business and Peter Peart, English) but he is the only one I have felt compelled to write something about, something I really have never done before. But as somebody who spend over 30 years in the education business I felt an obligation to recognize such a real game changer in his field. May he rest in peace with many thanks. Paul Thomson Class of 75 Bath, Ontario