# Stuart McLean dies of melanoma



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/stuart-mclean-dead-obit-1.3984826

So sad. Please get a mole check / skin cancer screening, if you haven't had one recently.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

james4beach said:


> http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/stuart-mclean-dead-obit-1.3984826
> 
> So sad. Please get a mole check / skin cancer screening, if you haven't had one recently.


Yes, saw that on CBC site. We were so sorry hear that Canada's story teller has passed.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

I borrowed one of Mr. McLean's stories for the eulogy at my dad's memorial service. Dad also passed because of skin melanoma.

The story was of the discovery, nurturing, planting and full growth of a seedling that is known as the Tree of Heaven.

It is a hardy plant, capable of finding a way to navigate in the most adverse of conditions, and whatever challenges it faces in life. The story reminded me of my dad, who went out every day to earn a living so that his children could grow and prosper. 

As a commission salesman, I remember many times when Dad had enough money in his pocket to put gas in the car to get to where he was going, but was uncertain if he would sell anything to pay for the gas to get back home...........and so when I first heard Stuart's story, it reminded me of my Dad.

_"It’s an Ailanthus, known also as the Tree of Heaven. A persistent and resourceful little tree that was brought to New York years ago from Asia, and thrives in urban environments. A tree that can sprout in a crack of the pavement and under porches and decks and apparently, in cars. Dave’s plant will keep growing until it is nearly sixty feet tall. And at the end of every summer it will produce small yellow-green flowers. And in the early fall the flowers will be followed by beautiful, ruddy fruit, bearing seeds with little wings ... like maple keys. Its leaves will come late in the spring and every spring Dave will think his tree has died, until suddenly it comes alive. Every spring a miracle. And every spring when the leaves finally come, Dave will stand in his backyard and think of this summer and the tiny seedling he found in his car. And he will look at his tree and think … that things survive. Even without his presence. Even without him, life goes on. Life has a will of its own and he needn’t worry. His job isn’t to worry or do things. His job is to watch and wonder."- From Stuart McLean's Tree of Heaven_

Thank you to Stuart McLean for all the gifts he so eloquently and generously bestowed to all Canadians.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

sags said:


> Thank you to Stuart McLean for all the gifts he so eloquently and generously bestowed to all Canadians.


+1 ^^^^

He was a great story teller with several books he wrote to his credit.

He also was the recepient of the Order of Canada and rightly deserved too. 


> He was also a professor emeritus at Ryerson University in Toronto, where he taught broadcast journalism for 20 years, beginning in the mid-1980s.


 Anybody that had a chance to tune into CBC radio (Vinyl Cafe) would be familiar with him. RIP Stuart. 
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ing-got-michael-flynn-fired-trump-white-house

on a side note:
Sad to hear of the passing of Canadian music, TV and radio personality icons during this decade when many of them are in their late 60s, 70s and 80s.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I had a coworker treated for melanoma in the 70s. It was on his forearm. I had moles all over my body from exposure to the sun in the French Riviera in the 60s. So I got a mole-man to do a scan every 5 years.

He has diagnosed my distorted ugly moles to be harmless sebaceous keratosis. For further emphasis, my BIL died of brain cancer from metastasis of a mole on the back of his ear (he would golf with a baseball cap) in 2008.

RIP Stuart!


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

kcowan said:


> I had moles all over my body from exposure to the sun in the French Riviera in the 60s. So I got a mole-man to do a scan every 5 years.


What is a mole man? Do you mean a dermatologist that would require a doctor's referral (In Ontario)? I need to have a check when I get back to Canada and buy a couple of wide brimmed golf hats. A number of my golf partners don't wear hats at all!


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