Lorcan O'Leary, class '57

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The Union was sadden to hear of the passing of Lorcan (Larry) O'Leary, class '57.

The death has occurred of Larry O'Leary
Dublin / Pickering, Canada

Date of Death: 14th February 2011

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Playing many different roles throughout Durham Region for nearly 40 years, Larry O'Leary had no shortage of friends.

"I know my dad influenced lots of people's lives," says his son, Steven O'Leary. "I know he influenced a lot of the ways I do things. He was really loved by his friends and people he came in contact with in the community."

Mr. O'Leary died on Feb. 14 of lung cancer at Rouge Valley Centenary hospital in Scarborough. He was well-known in the community as a businessman, politician, hockey coach and, probably most notably, an actor and director.

"Right from an early age, my parents were involved in community theatre and everything related to community theatre," his son says.

Mr. O'Leary was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved to England after graduating from Castleknock College in Dublin, where he excelled in public speaking. In England, he met his future wife Eileen. They married in 1960, had three boys and moved to Canada in 1964, where the couple had four more boys and one girl.

After spending time in Toronto, where Mr. O'Leary opened his own company, Conduct-A-Child, which provided fun outings for children of visiting conventioneers, the family moved to Pickering in 1972. He later retired in Bowmanville.

"When we were kids, he coached each one of our hockey teams at one point or another," Steven O'Leary recalls.

This was despite Mr. O'Leary's rare disabilities. He was born with Charcot Marie Tooth, an inherited neurological disorder that affects the nervous system. Over time it causes the loss of muscle strength in the feet, legs, hands and diaphragm. He wasn't diagnosed until he was 40.

Steven O'Leary remembers his father being told he would soon be confined to a wheelchair.

"Right up until he died, he refused to use a wheelchair," he laughs.

"He would not be told that he couldn't do something."

In 1999, Mr. O'Leary was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves. It causes the rapid onset of paralysis of the legs, arms, breathing, muscles and face. In 2005, another doctor diagnosed him with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a rare disease of the peripheral nervous system that causes gradual weakness and loss of sensation in the arms and legs. It's similar to GBS, but there's no cure.

In 2007, at 67, when he was just one of 578 Canadians living with the disease, and only one of 52 with a combination of CIDP and CMT, Mr. O'Leary chose to walk from Bowmanville to the national conference for GBS/CIDP at the Delta Airport West Hotel to raise awareness.

"He was a character, I can tell you that," Steven O'Leary says.

His father's ailments didn't stop him from doing the things he loved.

"He carried on as normally possible as he could," his son says. "I know he suffered with lots of pain in his life but ... the show had to go on."

Mr. O'Leary became a school board trustee and eventually chairman of the Durham Separate School Board in the late 1970s. He also owned the O'Leary School of Drama and was well acquainted with local drama groups such as the Backwoods Players and the Herongate Barn Dinner Theatre. His work earned him a 2003 Pickering Civic Award for arts and culture.

"Drama was his real driving force and love," says his son. "He would lose any sort of disability at all when he got up on stage and was acting in a play. And he was a truly passionate director as well."

durhamregion.com