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Edward O. Dodson of Aylmer, Quebec died on July 1, 2002, of complications following a stroke suffered on May 9.
The son of Samuel O. Dodson and Fanny Markley, Edward O. Dodson was born on April 26, 1916 in Fargo, North Dakota. He graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1939 with a dual major in biology and classics. On August 10, 1940 he married Mary Kay Street. In 1946 he completed a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at Berkeley.
He taught biology for 10 years at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Life of a college professor in those pre-Sputnik times was by no means easy–he ran the pony concession at the local amusement park one summer to put bread on the family table. He brought his family to Canada in 1957, and taught in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa from then until his retirement in 1981.
An excellent teacher, he frequently received accolades from his students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in medicine and the professions. He spent several sabbatical years abroad. He studied for a year at the Institut Teilhard de Chardin in Paris in 1971 - 1972, and in 1978 - 1979 he did research at a series of marine biological institutes in Naples, Banyuls sur Mer, and at Roscoff, Brittany. In 1952, he published the first college-level textbook on evolution; the fourth edition of this successful text, Evolution: Process and Product, appeared in 1985 with his son Peter as co-author.
Professor Dodson was active in the affairs of the university, particularly with the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa, and later with the Retired Professors Association; he served as president of both groups. He was especially proud to have established the annual faculty research lectureship honoring the outstanding faculty of the year.
His was an active retirement. In 1984 he published The Phenomenon of Man Revisited–A Biological Viewpoint on Teilhard de Chardin. In 1990 he published Creation or Evolution with George Howe, a far-reaching exploration of the science and theology of evolution. He participated for many years in the annual Cosmos and Creation meeting on science and faith in Baltimore, and was a highly esteemed yearly contributor to the Circle of St. Bede discussion group at the University of Pennsylvania Newman Center in Philadelphia. At the time of his death he was working on a third book exploring the topic of science and faith.He was a devoted husband and family man who enjoyed the accomplishments of his six children (Steve, a telescope maker in Sudbury; Peter, a paleontologist and anatomist in Philadelphia; Marie, a homemaker in Ottawa; Kathleen, a computer programer in Albany, NY; Monica, a civil servant in Aylmer; and David, a physician in Boston) and 13 grandchildren (Natalie, Marc-André, and Patrick of Sudbury; Christopher and Jessica of Philadelphia; Michael, Sarah, Mark and Karen of Ottawa; Ben, Theresa and Joshua of Albany; and Mariko of Boston).
He was active in the affairs of St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church of Aylmer, of which he was a founding member. He was also a mainstay of Meals on Wheels in Aylmer, and made his last delivery with Mary Kay only days before he was stricken. He greatly enjoyed travel. He made a pilgrimage to Darwin’s Galapagos Islands in 1994. He and Mary Kay celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2000 with an Alaskan cruise, and had planned a St. Lawrence cruise this summer for his 62nd anniversary.