John (Ted) Edward Merrick

In memory of Ted Merrick on the anniversary of his death by natural causes in Brockville Hospital on October 3, 2024, age seventy-two. A beloved husband, son, brother, and friend, Ted towers in the memory of those who loved him as a man of charisma and conviction who loved large, bore pain with grace, and refused to suffer fools. He was an accomplished professional, a mentor, and a devoted husband and friend. Strong and protective, gentle and loving, handsome and humble, Ted was a gentleman with an irreverent sense of humour. He was both proudly gay and adored by women, whom he counted among his closest friends. Ted was generous with his time, affection, and talents, and he is deeply missed.

Ted was born John Edward Merrick, on May 25, 1952, in Edmonton, where his parents, John (d. 2003) and Jean Merrick (d. 2013), raised him with his younger brothers Douglas and Lorne. He debuted on live TV’s Popcorn Playhouse in grade five (few knew) and earned a high school reputation for dancing (imagine), but Ted left Alberta to pursue landscape design at the University of Guelph. While there, he dabbled in bohemian life around Fergus and Elora and completed a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree in 1977. A distinguished career would follow.

Ted moved to Toronto, where he shared life with his first great life partner, Richard (Rick/Dick) Kroshus (d. 1992). Restaurant work and revelry figured prominently in their early work and social lives in Toronto till they embarked on their professional careers. Ted launched his landscape design career, and Ricky worked as a television editor and producer. They bought an old church manse in Walters Falls, ON, which became their weekend and summer home, where they frequently entertained friends. Kitsch and taxidermy punctuated their style indoors, and Ted set about transforming the grounds. He was devastated by Rick’s untimely death in 1992.

Ted eventually joined Ferris + Associates in Toronto, where he worked as a landscape architect for the rest of his accomplished career. His work helped shape the landscape design of major downtown Toronto projects. He had a gift for creating gardens that were sanctuaries where clients and friends could collect and recollect. Ted was also a passionate volunteer in support of the permanent AIDS Memorial in Toronto, and perhaps never prouder than when leading the Angels in America float in the Gay Pride parade. Later he was a key figure in developing the international design competition Winter Stations, which continues to bring art to Toronto’s winter waterfront. Ted retired in 2018, and he moved in 2019 to a stone cottage in Prescott, ON, with James (Jim/Jimmy) Collins, the second great love of his life.

Ted met Jim within a few years of Rick’s passing and began life anew. They were married in 2004. The manse in Walters Falls eventually gave way to a house they co-owned for a time with friends in Bayfield, ON, after which they focused on renovating their home in Toronto’s East End. Their energy for design and beauty carried on in Prescott, where new friends were charmed, more rounds of renovations and home décor undertaken, and the grounds transformed by Ted and Jimmy into another beautiful garden. Sadly, health issues for both men progressed quickly in their last years, and Ted struggled with memory loss. He lamented “the glory days,” as he called the many years of vitality he had known. Jim predeceased Ted on September 19, 2023, and in the summer of 2024, Ted moved to a retirement home in Brockville, where he died barely a year after Jimmy.

He died too soon, but Ted’s light burned strongly while he lived. He was intelligent, tall, and charming. He was a gentleman with exacting taste who could wear a suit like he was Cary Grant or be found labouring shirtless, shoeless with grass-stained feet, and caked in mud as he dug new gardens and planted and weeded. He may have liked plants more than people. A weekend morning often began with gardening at dawn, a bottle of bubbly by 10 AM, followed by an afternoon nap. He was active, and for years he rode a bike to work and swam lengths for exercise until he decided he was too old and took up a walking stick. He loved animals, especially his dogs: Cory the Irish Setter, followed by the Red and White Setters Seamus and Liam. He was an avid reader, a great fan of Dickens, and a longtime book club member who would honestly praise or criticize the selections (“I threw it across the room”). His favourite reading places were beds, window seats, and bathtubs in which he was known to consume books, The New Yorker, and whole boxes of truffles. He loved food (“I want to bathe in this stew”) and was blessed with two partners who fed him well.

Needing both space and community, Ted was solitary and sociable alike. He was fiercely and fearlessly loyal to his close circle of friends. He could be imperious in response to falseness or slights to his partners or friends. He also had a fine sense of humour, often self-deprecating, even if his teasing and wit were sometimes sardonic and pointed: “I love you guys. I just wish you would leave me alone.” Yet he was also known to cry “Don’t go-o-o!” when friends were leaving.

Sadly, he left us first. But one might imagine him now bathing after gardening, eating chocolates before dinner while Ricky and Jimmy discuss what to cook for him, smiling as he overhears them alternately praise and complain about him. He turns a page on a reread of Dickens, eats another truffle, and sighs contentedly…. Rest in peace, old chum.