Condolence: It's nice to see some of the condolences are still online. There were quite a number of written condolences at the time ...
I worked for Jon for a decade, and then off and on in later years. As has been said, his way of thinking was like a yesteryear of broadness and depth and experience ... it is hard to find people out there who think like Jon ...
I often thank Jon in the present world when i recognize it's his knowledge I'm passing on now to the next generations ...
and I like knowing Jon's examples on the landscape are recognized by the world of environmental management ... there is a book written in the states that presents some of Jon's projects in Ontario as how future development will be done for the next 100 years ...
Cheers Jon, your influence rings on and on and on

Condolence: I met Jon in 1989 when he was retained as an expert witness by my firm. We became friends. We went out for beers, and he stayed overnight with my wife and I in both Ottawa and Owen Sound. We visited his home in Waterloo.
It is only now (18-06-01) that I have learned of his passing. I am saddened to see that there are not more tributes and testimonials. Jon was a great guy.
Jon was smart, friendly, and had a great sense of (somewhat sardonic) humour. He was quick to engage, and paid close attention to the conversation. He was compassionate, and didn’t judge people. I enjoyed his company.
Jon spoke of the harshness of his childhood, the school fights and gangs, being picked on for his Italian heritage, and his poverty. He spoke of his years at University of California, and living in his VW Beatle. When short of food, he would drive to the docks, and after learning some Portuguese swear words, would yell them as the trawlers returned to port, in reaction to which the fishermen would throw at him unwanted fish in the catch. He would then gladly gather them up, and fry them back at his car.
One day Jon taped a large sheet of paper 3’ high and 6’ long to the wall on campus. It had three rows, and 90 columns, one for each day over 3 months. That was in the days when universities encouraged ideas. Each day, Jon would put an ‘X’ somewhere in each of the three rows. Speculation built. On the 90th day, a crowd had gathered. Jon put in the final ‘X’ on each row. Then he labelled the three rows with the names of the three women who worked in the university office. By asking each of them the same question, but a different question each day, and paying attention to their responses, Jon had plotted their menstruation periods! There was a bump in the graph each month in each row. And he was accurate! There was outrage, and calls for Jon to be expelled. The Dean was amused 😊
When things got drafty in the US, he came to Canada. At one point, he fell in love with an assistant, and they married. Jon was attracted to her youthful and off-beat ways. However, she became employed by the government, and she changed. Over time, she became bureaucratic. He spoke of ‘losing’ her to the ways of government and adherence to policy and procedure. They drifted apart, though stayed together. He would speak of it. His sadness over this loss of a ‘buddy’ was palpable.
Retained by a land developer, Jon convinced him not to plow all the trees and put pipes in the ground, and cram in mid-priced houses, but to keep the trees and the trout stream, and to build fewer high-end homes. Trusting in Jon, he did so, and submitted a revised Plan of Subdivision. The development generated much greater profit on the development as a result. Thinking out of the box.
I have many other stories of his, but likely no one will ever read these words, and now it’s made me tear up. That’s ok. I write these words for Jon.
For reasons still not known to me, Jon stopped returning e-mails or phone messages about the time that his wife was very ill, and passed away. We never spoke again. I miss Jon.
Thomas
tgr@torontomail.com

Condolence: Jon was a nice man, glad I got to meet him.

Condolence: I am so sorry to learn of Jon's passing.
Jon was a favourite prof at Western, where I took his 4th year Ecology course. My entire class was close to Dr. Planck and he quickly earned the nickname Max. More than a bit of his outside the box approach to thought and problem solving rubbed off on each of us, and I know it has served me well.
We kept in touch over the years and he always made himself available to discuss projects over a beer, a number of times in his home. I'll miss Jon.