Today I logged into Facebook and discovered the shocking news of his death.
Mr William McNamara taught me Business Leadership in ICPU. Because ours was the last period of the day in the intensive 8am-5pm schedule of the March Intake, a lot of us were always drowsy in his class but he never made a fuss out of it because he knew how exhausted we were after an entire day of classes. A few of us were plain incorrigible monkeys, but he never attempted to embarrass any of us students in front of others. On our lucky days he shared Bob Dylan on Youtube, and chocolates (he was convinced hat nothing motivates Malaysian students more than chocolates). I remember building bridges out of straws, Jeopardy, opening an imaginary bakery, and his love for trivia, history and politics. Exams weren't the main point of his teaching - we had several ways of calculating our marks and he used different ones for different students to help students to achieve their full potential. Our lessons were beyond textbooks - shaping us into leaders and helping us achieve our goals. It was him who reignited my love for learning - learning anything, and everything.
Leaving ICPU didn't mean that was the end of our journey as teacher and student. He once said, "once my student, always my student. You cannot run away from me". And he was true to his words - he worked hard to help students who are futhering their studies in Canada to stay connected, and offered help for enrolment, accomodation, and if you have a problem with not having taken ENG4U he was the man to look for.
One semester was too short a time for knowing Mr Mac, but it was greatly treasured. Mr Mac is one of the most inspiring and caring teacher I've ever had, and I'm proud to have been his student.