To all of Don’s many friends and family, HumanistFreedoms.com would like to express our most heartfelt condolences and sympathy. if you have memories or sentiments to share, please add them as comments or send an email and we’ll be proud to share them on this page.

Recollection by Eric Adriaans

A little over a week ago, I received an email message from an old friend that said simply, “Don died on Sunday. We’re all a bit shocked. I’ll let you know more soon.” Messages from old friends can be like that sometimes. There doesn’t really need to be more -every word carries its own freight of memory and significance. Old friends know how utterly, deeply felt and shared is the loss of a friend like Don Cullen.

I first met Don in the cramped and stuffy Toronto offices of Centre For Inquiry Canada (CFIC) at the corner of Yonge & College in the spring of 2014. I had recently joined the organization and wasn’t altogether certain whether I had gotten my myself and my career onto a pretty unusual path. Then Don popped-in for a visit, wearing what seemed to be a kind of trademark big-grin-avec-fishing-vest ensemble, and we chatted for quite a long time.

We chatted about the forming of CFIC and some of the other humanist organizations in Toronto and Canada; also about Don’s interests, career and memories. He told me about the Bohemian Embassy, about his poetry and about his deeply-felt and long-considered ideas about humanism and atheism. Don’s warmth, humour and intelligence were a welcome indication that I probably was on an unusual path – but there was wonderful company to be had. It was Don’s first of many gifts and lessons to me about humanism. It’s a gift I try to carry and share that gift of welcome and community with others.

I wasn’t aware at our first meeting, but Don was one of the people who helped to create CFIC. Later, I was able to obtain some recollections from him about this history and I want to recall some of that here.

In the late 1990’s, a vibrant American import name, Terri Hope, became coordinator of the Humanist Association of Toronto (HAT).  Membership was growing and George Baker became a life member.  George was a non-academic intellectual.  Because of the Great Depression, he had left school in grade seven.  Tests for air crew in the Royal Canadian Air Force proved George to be above average intelligence.  It got him interested in great ideas.  He read, attended lectures.

At that time, HAT had no home base.   There was a phone number and an answering machine, a fax number and a website.  Many HAT members wanted a store-front, a gathering place….a home.  Proposals were made.  George Baker was more than interested.  Hard work and good luck had brought serious financial rewards and he wished to do something for Humanism.

I had presided over four incarnations of the Bohemian Embassy coffee house where Margaret Atwood, Ian & Sylvia Tyson, Al Purdy, Gordie Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Bill Coshy and many more performed.  I arranged a meeting with George.  He and I had already become acquainted with the Centre For Inquiry  in Amherst, New York.  Paul Kurtz, the founder, Tom Flynn and Joe Nickell had spoken at HAT events.  I had attended talks in Amherst and CFI presented a 2-day conference at the Ramada Inn on Jarvis Street.  They indicated a desire for a Toronto location and sought cooperation from HAT.  Nothing resulted.  Some say it was apathy among HAT members, fear of American domination or was it that CFI Los Angeles had drained the exchequer!

HAT members Ron Burns and Jim Cranwell joined George and me.  Using the CFI model, we envisioned an umbrella organization with HAT, HAC and the Toronto Skeptics sharing the same roof.  We needed a location.  Feeling a need for more youthful participation, we wanted to be close to the University of Toronto and consulted Neil Wright Real Estate.  he found us a location on Harbord Street.  It needed a lot of work.  George hired an architect.  Plans were drawn up.  A strike at City Hall delayed approval month after month.  George, in his 80s, couldn’t stand the delays.  He sold Harbord Street and got out.

Robert Buckman, an internationally famous oncologist had come to Toronto.  He had a lot of TV exposure in Great Britain, had partnered with Monty Python’s John Cleese in several projects.  He did several programs on TV Ontario.  He had a high profile and he replaced Henry Morgantaler as President of HAC.  HAT and HAC presented some events under Rob’s direction.  Membership at HAT soared well over 200.

Quite separately, things were happening at U of T.  It was decided to create a multi-faith Centre.  Two students objected.  Independently, Jenny Fiddes and Justin Trottier felt that a university should be secular, supporting no religion.  Religion might support colleges but not the university.  Where did atheists fit !?

George Baker and I heard about it and gave them a couple of hundred bucks for stamps and envelopes.  I was on the HAT Board of Directors and proposed for Jenny and Justin to make presentations on the U of T campus.  They were successful with considerable interest in Humanism and Atheism.  George and I arranged a lunch at Bumpkins Restaurant with Justin, Jenny and Rob Buckman.  Rob imagined a Humanist Drop-in Centre near the university.  A meeting with Henry Morgantaler, Rob, Ron Burns, Jim Cranwell and me occurred and we decided we would do it.  I contacted Mr. Wright and he found 216 Beverly Street.

The umbrella organization idea began to unfold.  The skeptics were skeptical and decided not to participate.  The Humanist Association of Canada wanted their headquarters to stay in Ottawa.  A vote of HAT members was 100% for moving in and the organization was set  up.  The student team at U of T was enthusiastic….(more on the CFIC website)

It is eminently fitting to re-share one of Don’s own stories. Whether it was the forming and re-forming of the Bohemian Embassy or helping to shape humanist communities – Don seemed always, when I was with him, to be sharing a story. But also creating a stage for those around him to sing just as purely, laugh just as joyfully, think and feel just as deeply and shine just as brightly as he did.

Don was a wonderful human and a wonderful humanist.

Reflections by Richard Thain

I first met Don at a Humanist Association of Canada (HAC) conference almost four decades ago, and it was a pleasure knowing and associating with Don through HAC (now Humanist Canada), Humanist Association of Toronto, Centre for Inquiry Canada, etc.

As most of us know, Don was a creative dynamo, entertainer, writer, and Canadian cultural luminary. In addition to his professional work, Don found the time to support numerous secular humanist organizations. He regularly attended and contributed to humanist conferences, was a founder of Humanist Association of Toronto (HAT), and Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC). Don was an articulate and staunch supporter of all our humanist causes. One of the last conversations he had, before he died, was about how extremely upset he was over the recent news from the USA, regarding the overturning of the Roe (v) Wade decision.

In recent years, while visiting Toronto, I occasionally was able to join Don, Jim Cranwell, and other humanist, atheist friends, at their Friday afternoon social and discussion sessions. The conversations were always fascinating and enlightening, to say the least. On one such visit, he passed me his brilliant Quotesanon pamphlet. The pamphlet included a poem which he had written:

A Found Poem by Don Cullen

An eye for an eye 

Makes the whole world blind. *

Only human kindness 

Will save humankind. **

*   Accredited to M.K. Gandhi

** Accredited to Bertrand Russell 

Don Cullen was a thoughtful, generous, creative, and compassionate man. Last week we lost a wonderful friend – a great Canadian humanist.

Citations, References And Other Reading

1. Feature Image Courtesy: Dr. Richard Thain

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The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.