Jeffrey Zahn Obituary

Jeffrey Bard Zahn: February 7, 1950 - January 6, 2026

On behalf of my sons Michael and William, Jeff´s brother Michael and his wife Debby and his sister Tina, thank you so much for sharing this time with us.

By our family standards, Jeff died young. His grandmother lived to be 99, and both of his parents, to age 90. Somehow, I thought that we too would be together into our 90´s. Especially since Jeff bested the odds of his first cancer, diagnosed over 20 years ago.

But he lived to see his sons grow to be men and we had 54 ½ years together.

In life, Jeff´s world was populated by people who were engaged by him, people who trusted him, people who loved him. He was a perfectionist, a quality he passed on - perhaps in excess - to his children.

As he became more fragile, we spent many weekend evenings watching old movies. Jeff most loved movies about food and historical calamities. I´ve lost track of the number of times we´ve watched Babette´s Feast and The Longest Day.

The boys and I tried our best to make a gentle environment for his last hours. Michael crafted a light cotton gown for him from an old shirt. William lit the room with candles and burned a sweet incense. There was a bouquet of baby´s breath and lavender. Our dog Ronnie was lying on the bed. We held his hands and feet, as his breathing slowed and stopped.

As our tribute to Jeff´s life, William, Michael and I opted to go old school, creating a photo book rather than a video display. For us, this was a tangible labour of love that provides a glimpse of the way he moved through the world - with delicate care, sly humour and a keen sense of the absurd.

Carol Sawka and I are in a choir, and at our last concert, we sang a medieval song called `Mary is a Lady Bright.´ On the first run-through, Carol and I shared our opinion that it was a bit silly. But I get it now...

The final line is: `God grant us all a good ending.´

And Jeff had that...

Cathy and family
Randy and I are so very sorry to hear that Jeff has died.
I remember him being so very smart in school and of course being in my all time favorite band The Peasants!
I hope all your wonderful memories eventually bring a few smiles as you think about them.
Thinking of you, Barb

Mike Zahn Eulogy for his Brother Jeffrey

I´m Jeff´s younger brother. According to our grandmother, I once declared that "my brother Jeff is the greatest guy in the world." And he was a very good older brother. He let me hang around with him and his older friends and participate in a lot of their activities. He even promoted me to corporal in the army club that he founded in which he of course had the rank of General. Then, we grew up and moved on with our own lives. My opinion of my big brother became somewhat more nuanced. We remain close and always got along well but, as you all know, Jeff was smart, often very funny, direct, honest, and decent, but he could also be overly pessimistic, irritable, quick to anger, and very, very stubborn. I´d like to tell a brief story that illustrates this.

Jeff had always worn glasses from a very young age and for a long time had this horrible pair that looked like something out of a 70s British sitcom. One weekend in the early 90s we were visiting and Catherine told my wife and I that she wanted to take Jeff to pick out a new pair of frames. So the three of us had an intervention with Jeff and told him that we were going to take him to get some new glasses. Of course his reply was "no you´re not". But somehow we prevailed and got him into a car and went to some Toronto optical atelier. Back then the only way one could pick out frames was to try them on and look in the mirror to see which ones looked best. The problem with someone with very poor eyesight was that there is no way of telling how the frames look and in Jeff´s case he could barely see how his own face looked. He was becoming increasingly frustrated and irritated with us when he put on a pair of frames that looked something like Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. We all agreed that these looked great and fit him perfectly. However, Jeff, being very opinionated, wanted to make up his own mind and was not going to trust any of us. Eventually, these frames were purchased, his prescription lenses put in them, and he decided that they were great and he even liked the clip-on sunglasses that came with them. I think he had these for at least another 25 years.

My point is that with Jeff things were rarely easy. If you were going to have a friendship, you couldn´t be lazy about it. You had to put in the work. And if you did that, if you put in the work, it was always worth it. He was my brother, and I´ll miss him.

Condolences to Cathy Zahn, so sad to hear of classmates passing. And to his sister Christine (Tina) ,sorry to here of your loss also.

Eulogy from Tom Schank
Memorial Ceremony January 18, 2026

Jeff and I met in first grade. We shared classes in every grade through elementary school. In high school, we took most of the same courses. Although Jeff and I often played with the same group of friends at recess in the early years, there was no contact outside of school events.
Jeff lived in town and I was a farm boy.
We sometimes sat next to each other - which led to snickering and disruptive comments that we were sure were humorous. Our status as " bright" students saved us serious punishment, aside from irrelevant `conduct´ marks.
Our girl friends were also friends and our relationship flourished for years. In our senior year, the four of us became closer. We were in each other´s weddings, visited during holidays and college vacations, as well as on weekends when we were in Toledo and they lived in Detroit. We played games, Jeff always undefeated at ping pong, (wicked serve) and always unsuccessful at tennis (weak backhand).
When I had children, Jeff and Catherine were more frequent visitors and totally engaged with the boys. They even agreed with our request that they would raise the boys in the event we were both gone. The births of Michael and William led to less frequent visits but strongly continued the family friendships.
Although busy careers intervened, no matter how long between visits, the reconnection felt like yesterday. Somehow we remained close despite complications and distances. Our sons´ weddings, visits to Toronto and Niagara, trips to Tiffin, emails, texts and phone calls, kept us in each other´s lives.
Throughout my friendship with Jeff, he was uniquely Jeff. His self-assurance, wit, impatience, strong opinions and intelligence never waned. He could make me laugh, challenged, humble, angry, disappointed, annoyed, proud and lastly sad. My last planned meeting with Jeff and Catherine for a Jays game, did not happen when I contracted Covid while in Stratford. When Catherine informed me of Jeff´s recurrence, I was very disappointed but thought he would overcome it again given his grit.
I do not recall a single person outside of my family with whom I have had a longer relationship than Jeff. I regret that until composing this, I had not considered that. I would have valued it even more. I am pleased to have shared those many times with Jeff. Jeff is the person I would most want to hear from regarding whatever afterlife there might be. His unique critique would be the most enlightening experience ever. Thanks, Jeff.

Remarks from Cremation Ceremony

In 1980, I stumbled upon this valentine card: `We´re a matchless pair´.
Over the next 45 years, I pulled it out annually...and Jeff would roll his eyes, or say something like `give it a rest,´ but I didn´t.

25 years ago when Jeff got the diagnosis of his first cancer, His surgeon, Carol Swallow, asked him what his goals were. With no hesitation, he said `I want to live as long as possible.´ Paraphrasing Bruce Springsteen, he wanted all the time, and all that Heaven would allow. And he got all that. He saw his sons grow to be men, and we had those 25 more years together.

In conclusion, I´ll and read a short poem by Raymond Carver, brought to my attention by my former CAMH Board Chair, David Wilson. It´s the last poem in his last book, written when he too was dying of cancer. The title of the poem is `Last Fragment.´

He asks:

"And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?

I did

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth."

And Jeff was all that...

My condolences to Cathy and sons. Jeffrey was one of the good guys. May he Rest in Peace.