Obituary
 

+Gerson Fonseca Peacefully on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga. Beloved husband of Claire, loving father of Nikki DeSouza (Cled) and Karl. Devoted Papa to Michelle and Samantha. Funeral service will take place at St. John of the Cross Parish, 6890 Glen Erin Drive, Mississauga on Saturday September 13th at 10.00 am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Gerson to the attention of: The Palliative Cancer Care Unit, The Credit Valley Hospital Foundation, 2200 Eglington Ave West, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5M 2N1 Gerson will be sadly mourned by his colleagues of the Nairobi Goan School, Class of 1957, with whom he and Claire celebrated treasured memories at the Class Golden Jubilee Reunion in Toronto, September, 2007. See pic: http://dr.ribeiro.goan.school.googlepages.com/20071002.html

+ Dr Leta Fernandes Ph.D. (McGill) M.A.Sc. (McGill) B.Eng. (Lisbon, Portugal) Dr Leta Fernandes died unexpectedly on Saturday, September 06, 2008 in Ottawa Canada. She is the daughter of the late Jose Francisco Fernandes (Merces, Goa) and Lilian (nee Coutinho) Fernandes (Mapuca Goa). Leta spent her adolescence years in Mozambique and Portugal before emigrating to Canada in the early 1980's to pursue her graduate studies at McGill university in Montreal. She obtained her Phd in Environmental Engineering and continued her career as a professor at the University of Ottawa. She will be dearly missed by her husband,, Mostafa, her children, Hani & Hanna, her mother, Lilian, her siblings, Januario (Vilma), Zulema (Glario) and her nephews and nieces. Funeral services will be held on Friday September 12th , at McGarry's Funeral Home, 315 Mcleod Street, Ottawa, Canada. Check details in the 'Ottawa Citizen' obituaries. Info from: Felix D'Sa www.felixhabari.piczo.com  Tributes to the late Leta Fernandes [Goanet-News] Leta Fernandes (ex-Mapusa, Mozambique, Portugal, Ottawa), a tribute: Out of Sight, but Never Out of Mind‏ From: goanet-news-bounces@lists.goanet.org  on behalf of Goanet News (news.goanet@gmail.com) Sent: September 10, 2008 5:43:03 PM, Reply-to: goanet@goanet.org To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! (goanet@lists.goanet.org); goanet-news@goanet.org http://www.research.uottawa.ca/perspectives/10084 Out of Sight, but Never Out of Mind by Susan Hickman When it comes to garbage, most of us drag our waste to the curb and never give it another thought. Not Leta Fernandes. The 1.5 kilograms of waste the average person throws out every day in this country is a source of concern for Fernandes and a catalyst for her research. A civil engineering professor at the University of Ottawa since 1989, Fernandes didn't quite envision herself studying other people's trash. "You don't start out thinking you are going to become an environmental engineer," she said. Nevertheless, the interest in science was there from childhood, and with a family that was adamant about post-secondary education for all its children, Fernandes was definitely destined for university studies. Growing up in Portugal, where clean drinking water and waste treatment were issues, Fernandes knew this was a field she needed to pursue. At first, she couldn't decide between civil or chemical engineering. Drawn by a desire to address basic needs of the world's population, Fernandes first studied in Lisbon, and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1979. She went on to complete her master's and PhD in environmental engineering at McGill. Fernandes's research career started with the composting of manure slurries in a collaborative project with Agriculture Canada. A passive aeration method was found to be effective in producing an odourless, nutrient-rich growing material for plants. This system has recently been implemented in British Columbia. It's all pollution "My research is mostly practical application, but I have evolved from studying the treatment of wastewater and agricultural waste to the safe disposal of waste in landfills. The basics are still the same. It's still pollution." One of Fernandes's projects was to determine how to treat leachate, the material that sinks to the bottom of a landfill system. This leachate, or liquid wastewater, contains various pollutants such as heavy metals, organic materials, ammonia and boron. Conventional removal methods don't work for boron, which is toxic to plants if it leaks into the subsoil below a landfill site. Studies on this issue are scarce, but Fernandes's work using peat filters to absorb the chemical has led to an article soon to be published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science. A more recent project has involved the degradation of solid waste in a bioreactor landfill. Fernandes asks whether some of the pollutants in the leachate can be reduced. What kind of bacteria would optimize and speed up the breakdown of the waste, to reduce the need to scout out new landfill sites? "But I didn't stop there," says Fernandes, whose current hot topic is how to optimize landfill cover designs to biologically oxidize fugitive emissions of methane gas into carbon dioxide and water. "The 30 to 40 per cent of methane that is not recovered migrates through the soil cap on top of the landfill and is released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming," says Fernandes. "About 20 per cent of Canada's share of global warming comes from landfill sites, so there's a lot of interest in solving this problem." Fernandes does not take credit for solving all the problems of landfill systems. "I couldn't do this by myself. I have six graduate students, including two PhDs, working on these projects. There's a lot of work to be done yet, but I think we are headed in the right direction." Hope for the future When Fernandes arrives at her unadorned office in the old Colonel By engineering building, she doesn't feel like she's going to work. Rather, she feels a sense of hope for the future. "There are millions of people dying from poor sanitation and water-borne diseases," says Fernandes, who has undertaken environmental projects in China, the Middle East and Africa. "It's my belief that if you manage waste properly, you'll significantly curtail your health bill. I want to be able to take this landfill technology and implement it at low cost in as many countries as possible." Would you like to comment on the above story, or about Research Perspectives in general? Do you have a story idea that you would like to see in Research Perspectives? Send us your comments and ideas! ANOTHER TRIBUTE FROM J. OSCAR NORONHA (VIA BRITTO-NET) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brittos/message/3616 Remembering Leta Fernandes It's probably been 48 years since our paths parted in different directions. I knew her as a kid, a good 6 years or more younger than myself. Her Dad was a foreman reporting to my Dad, a technician and head of the PWD maintenance district (Bardez and Pernem, sometimes stretching to Sanquelim and beyond). Simple and good folks, with a wholesome work ethic, they lived by the side of Dishticar's, on the opposite side of the lane going downhill to the old fish market. Two hundred yards from our rented house. In all probability she was a St. Mary's girl, because her older brother, Januario was a Britto's boy. In 1960, I left for Europe. After the Portuguese were forced to leave, her Dad risked it and took the entire family to Mozambique. When things got bad, after independence, they moved to Portugal. I wonder what they have been through, for the Father hardly managed to complete secondary school. Now, after 48 years, I hear of her as a life's casualty. A death announcement in Ottawa, Canada. And then, the complete surprise: she was a full Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa. Below, I am posting the URL of a review published a few year before her death. To throw the limelight on what Goan women are capable of, when they seize the opportunity (not all opportunities are given on a plate). And to highlight the sense of mission she had with respect to her profession. May be she can be a role model for someone's daughters. Oscar JosenoronC@aol.com http://www.research.uottawa.ca/perspectives/10084

+ Peter Coelho Peter Coelho passed away in Verem, Bardez, Goa on September 6th, 2008. Funeral is scheduled for Sept.13th. Peter was the brother of Mariquinha DeSouza (late, Verem, Goa), Abelina Gonsalves (late, Chicago, USA), Joseph (Brampton, CA), Severine Mendes (Candolim, Goa), Sabin Rodrigues (Mississauga, CA), Josephine Coelho (Birmingham, UK) and Satir (Zanzibar, TZN). He was the favorite uncle to 33 nieces and nephews and their spouses. Peter was an avid soccer and hockey player in the 1950s and was captain of the Dar team that won the Gold Cup in 1953 (see pictures in PHOTOS on the t-goan site). Uncle Peter lived a long and comfortable life in Verem with the family of his oldest sister, Mariquinha. May his soul rest in peace. Posted on: goans_tanzanite@yahoogroups.com "j.birkmeyer" <jbirkmeyer@yahoo.com>