Elizabeth "Liz" GORDON

Elizabeth 'Liz' GORDON passed away suddenly but peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at the age of 71. Born on April 4, 1954, in St. Catharines, Ontario, to Polish immigrants Walter and Helen (Kot) Tyszecki, Liz grew up in Guelph alongside her sister Christine and her brother Edward. After graduating from Bishop Macdonell High School in Guelph, Liz went to nursing school at St. Joseph's School of Nursing, graduating in that school's final class in 1974, and then went on to a 44-year career as a registered nurse. She spent the bulk of her first thirty years in nursing at the intensive care unit at Toronto General Hospital and then transitioned into management at University Health Network, where she excelled as a senior professional practice leader overseeing the hospital system and training new nurses. Among her many achievements in the nursing field, she cared for the first double-organ transplant in Toronto in the 1980s, worked with and published papers on ECMO and NovaLung, and worked tirelessly during the SARS epidemic, even at her own personal health risk. She frequently took on night shifts in order to spend the daytime with her family. During her career, she went back to school, earning a bachelor's degree in adult education and a bachelor's degree in nursing, both with distinction, and a master's degree in health sciences. She taught the personal support worker course at George Brown College, where her acuity for healthcare and her vibrant personality made her a favourite among her students. Married in 1980 in Guelph to Peter Gordon, she and her husband celebrated over 44 years of marriage. Together, they bought two houses in Toronto, had a son, and vacationed from North America to Europe to Morocco and to the Bahamas. They also travelled to upstate New York, Texas, and Alberta to visit their son during his school and work commitments there.