Vic Elias died on May 18, 2006, following a two year struggle with cancer. He was writing and fighting until the end. Vic was a wonderful person who touched many lives in different ways, and he will be much missed.

A limited edition chapbook containing Vic's last poems, as well as the eulogies from the funeral and other tributes will be published shortly.

Vic was a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Western Ontario, where he twice served as Director of the Theoretical Physics Ph.D. program. He was also an Affiliate Member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. In 1997 he received the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching, UWO's highest teaching award.

In addition, he is probably the only faculty member ever to have been honoured with a poetry festival sponsored by the Faculty of Science, which took place on October 2, 2005.

Over the last thirty years he published poetry in many literary journals and anthologies in Canada and the US. His first collection of poetry, short fiction and essays, Reflected Scenery from Where My Eyes Should Be, was published by Moonstone Press in 1991. His second, Drinking With Old Men (South Western Ontario Poetry) appeared in 2004, and his latest, A Game of Jeopardy, (also South Western Ontario Poetry) in January 2006.

A native of Chicago, Vic immigrated to Canada in 1979. From 1985, he lived in London, Ontariowith his wife, poet and playwright D'vorah Elias. Their four children, Gabriel, Rebecca, Leonard and Nathan have all managed to avoid any kind of career path remotely touching upon science.