Today@Dal

In Memory of

Philip Desmond Pacey

October 8, 1941 - October 20, 2016

PACEY, Philip Desmond of Halifax passed away on Thursday October 20, 2016 in the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital. Phil had retired as Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University in 2007 after 36 years at Dalhousie University.

Born in Brandon, Manitoba on October 8, 1941, he was the first of seven children of the late WC Desmond and Mary (Carson) Pacey. Phil was predeceased by his parents and sister Patricia Bird, and is survived by his loving wife of 49 years, Elizabeth (Young) Pacey, and siblings Mary Ann Johnson (David), Peter (Kim), Margaret (Gilles), Michael (Karen), Penelope, and many nieces and nephews.

Phil grew up in Fredericton where his father was a faculty member at UNB and his mother an accomplished artist. He received his BSc (First Class Honours) at McGill in 1963 and then completed his PhD (1967) on a National Research Council Studentship under the supervision of Professor John Polanyi at the University of Toronto. After working for two years in the Research Department at Imperial Oil, Sarnia, ON, Phil then moved to the University College of Swansea, Wales, as an Imperial Chemical Industries Postdoctoral Fellow. Phil joined the faculty at Dalhousie University in 1971 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1979 and to Professor in 1986. 

Phil’s research concerned physical chemistry and especially kinetics of gas-phase reactions at high temperatures. Phil held NSERC (and their predecessor NRC) grants from the start of his career until 2010. Phil also held several grants from Stelco, Imperial Oil and ACOA. He supervised many undergraduate and graduate students; his last PhD student (completed in 2008) was Gianna Alemán-Milán, now a Senior Instructor in Chemistry. Phil was author or co-author of 125 refereed publications, and he was a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He was a member of the NSERC Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Grant Selection Committee (2003-6), and he was Logistics Chair of the First Canadian Chemical Congress, Halifax, 1991. Phil was a Member of the Dalhousie Senate, and served on the Senate Academic Priorities and Budget Committee (1995-6). Phil served a term as a member of the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry and was co-editor of a special issue in honour of John Polanyi in 1994. Phil was twice awarded the Dalhousie University Undergraduate Chemistry Society Teaching Award (2002-03 and 2005-06), elected and presented by the Chemistry undergraduate students. Receiving this award twice confirms his dedication and enthusiasm towards teaching.

After Phil and Elizabeth moved to Halifax in 1971 they became increasingly involved in the struggle to preserve the city's historic architecture, an activity which Phil pursued full time upon his retirement, including as President of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

A funeral and committal service will be held for the family, then a public reception will take place at Fort Massey Church (corner of Queen and Tobin, 5303 Tobin Street, Halifax) on November 8th from 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (remarks at 3:00 PM).

For those who wish, sympathy may be expressed through donations to Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.