RYDER, Thomas “Dan”

November 23, 1971 — December 8, 2024

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Thomas Daniel “Dan” Ryder on Sunday, December 8, 2024, at home with his beloved wife, Zena, and their kids, Ben and Julia. Dan died a couple of weeks after celebrating his 53rd birthday with a family re-watch of The Empire Strikes Back. He’s survived by his wife and children, his parents Tom and Wendie, and many other family members, friends, colleagues, and students who were touched by his love and kindness, by his brilliance and fervent belief in the power of education.

Ever since his terminal cancer diagnosis in 2021, Dan embodied the pithy advice to Keep Calm and Carry On. With humour, optimism, and Monty Python quotes, he repeatedly problem-solved his symptoms and side-effects, until finally even he could no longer bear the struggle. Though his family and friends grieve his loss greatly, they find comfort in knowing he is no longer suffering. During his life, Dan quietly collected accomplishments like others collect souvenirs, with academic achievements in philosophy, science, and music. He was a serious overachiever, but only those closest to him would ever know, since Dan never made a fuss about it. His life was a masterclass in humility, rationality, and quiet strength. And love. Lots and lots of love.

Dan and Zena met in 1997 at the University of North Carolina. Zena was studying philosophy in the UK and won a prize to visit any university in the world for a semester and she happened to choose UNC. Dan, a born and bred Calgarian, was in the UNC PhD program and he kindly gave the unknown visiting student a ride from the airport and offered her a spot on his couch.

Although Zena was initially uninterested in romance (she was done with men!), she and Dan hit it off immediately, making each other laugh, having lively philosophical discussions, and enjoying music and movies together. (Never with popcorn, though.) One evening, Dan and Zena took a moonlit walk and a stray black kitten changed everything. It followed them back to Dan’s condo and seeing Dan take care of their new feline roommate prompted Zena to reconsider her dismissal of romance… To cut a long story short, they were engaged in 1998 and married in Banff, AB in a surprise ceremony in 1999. Ben was born in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana and Julia in 2007 in Kelowna, BC. On December 27, Dan and Zena would have celebrated 25 years of happy marriage.

Dan had many passions. Before cancer symptoms made it too difficult, he played the piano and had just started taking singing lessons. (He often jokingly impersonated Pavarotti.) Dan enjoyed listening to music from Beethoven to Boney M, and was a huge history buff, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm whenever someone showed an interest in Ancient Rome. A loyal Calgary Flames fan, Dan would be seriously ticked if this were the season they won the Stanley Cup.

Dan frequently took action for the greater good. For example, in 2015, he laboured tirelessly to get political parties to cooperate to elect the first local non-Conservative MP in many years. He also volunteered with a couple of Green Party election campaigns. He spoke up — in person, in print, on the radio — against science-deniers of various persuasions (including anti-vaxxers, creationists, climate change deniers, and homeopaths). But he was always polite. He knew the strength of clarity, patience, and above all, supporting his positions with sound arguments and well-researched evidence.

A dedicated and well-loved teacher and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, Dan believed (based on empirical evidence, of course!) that adding explicit critical thinking instruction into educational programs would go far in helping make the world a better place. He led the effort to have critical thinking added as a foundational requirement for the BA degree at UBC Okanagan. Before he became ill, he’d planned to work on getting critical thinking into the K-12 curriculum, but never managed to start that project. Before he died, he was overjoyed to learn that some friends and colleagues wanted to continue his efforts through a foundation to promote critical thinking education, in collaboration with UBCO. To that end, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ryder Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Goodbye Dan, and May the Force be with You. Always.

Celebrations of Dan’s life will be held at UBCO in the spring and in Calgary in the summer.

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