Ernie McFarland was lovingly known as E-Mac, everybody’s favourite uncle: caring, considerate, a good listener, and a source of endless inspiration.
The 78-year-old former University of Guelph physics professor died suddenly earlier this month, leaving behind his wife Mary McMartin, two sons Grant and Steve McFarland, and stepchildren Dan and Lianna Ragula.
Over the course of his career he earned numerous awards for teaching over the years and helped found the Ontario Association of Physics Teachers. But most importantly, he cared deeply for his family, friends, colleagues and students.
“He was just a rock to me. He was always there for everybody. He was a really good listener. Made everybody feel important,” McMartin said.
Grant and Steve agreed, saying he was always there for them, always supportive and caring.
“My entire life, he was always there for me, able to listen and provide wisdom,” Grant said.
He and McFarland would regularly go on golf trips.
“When I was 15, he bought me a set of golf clubs, something that we could do together as he aged.”
McFarland was the author of a number of physics textbooks. Some of the illustrations in them were done by Grant as a child.
“I remember him asking me to do illustrations for a book, saying can you draw me a bird, or a man standing on a rocket ship,” he said.
McFarland began teaching at the University of Guelph in the 1970s, and remained an integral faculty member until his retirement around 2009.
He was known for being inclusive, encouraging, able to make physics exciting, and has impacted the way physics is taught across Ontario.
“He had a tremendous impact. Many of the teachers at the university were inspired and motivated by him,” said colleague and friend Joanne O’Meara.
Along with being one of the founders of the OAPT, which helps teachers share techniques and new ways of doing things, he created the Fantastic Physics Fun Show with Tom Kehn, travelling to elementary and high schools to teach physics in an entertaining way, sometimes even appearing on TV.
McFarland performed the show in his basement for one of Grant’s birthday parties, using liquid nitrogen to freeze objects.
At the end of the performance, he dumped his materials out to create a fog.
“It was very mystical, but then realizing that as we step on it, it’s actually damaging the carpet. The carpet was frozen,” Grant laughed.
He was infinitely curious about his surroundings, often commenting on patterns created by light or wondering about the origin of various things.
He was especially fascinated by a phenomenon called the Green Flash, which he first witnessed with Steve on a visit to Hawaii years ago.
“It’s when the sun sets, in the right conditions, you get a flash of green at the end,” he said. “He’d been looking for it for decades, so it was nice to see it together.”
“He just had that infectious love for the discipline that translates in the classroom,” said O’Meara, who has known McFarland for 22 years since she started working at the university.
At the time, one of the things McFarland was responsible for was handing out teaching assignments.
“He tried to work the jigsaw puzzle so that everyone got something that they wanted to do,” she said.
Her first year with the faculty, he knocked on her door and asked if she would be interested in teaching a second year electricity and magnetism course.
“It wasn’t on my list at all. In my head, I’m thinking, oh no, because it was one of the courses that I absolutely hated in undergrad.”
But as a new faculty member, she felt compelled to say yes.
“I’m still teaching it. The course is now one of my all time favourites,” she said. “I was (recently) joking around with him that I have him to thank for discovering my love for it, because it definitely would not have been my choice.
“He was just a really lovely man who always had a smile and was very good at encouraging people to think about doing things that were maybe a little bit outside of their comfort zone.”
He was also an inspiration and supporter of Royal City Science, co-founded by O’Meara and Orbax.
“When he retired in 2009, he was the subject of what can only be described as a cult following on Facebook,” O’Meara said in an online tribute from the physics department.
A group called Ernie Mac is the new Chuck Norris was created, where students would share things like:
““Ernie was once challenged to a footrace by a photon and easily won. Afterwards the photon complained that Ernie must’ve broken the rules of physics to win but Ernie just laughed and replied, “Laws of physics? I AM physics.””
“The students just absolutely adored him,” she said. “He was like everybody’s favourite uncle.”
O’Meara met McFarland weekly for coffee, where he would order a drip with cream and almost always, no matter the time of day, a pastry.
“He had a notorious sweet tooth,” she said.
“He was just really curious about everything in his surroundings. And when you were talking with him, you felt like you had his full, undivided attention, and he was interested in what you had to say and what you were thinking.”
At home, he spent a great deal of time hiking and canoeing with his family.
Grant remembers being in the front of a canoe once when he was about five years old, and seeing a large moose in the water.
“He wanted to get a picture of this moose, moving us closer and closer. I’m going like, dad, you’re at the back of the canoe, I’m too close. Just being frightened that this moose was going to come get me,” he laughed.
In addition to physics, hiking and family, McFarland loved music, and played guitar almost every day and would show off his calloused fingers like a badge of honour, McMartin said.
They met nearly 30 years ago at a dinner friends were hosting during the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and were instantly smitten.
“He was just a real family man. He had just gotten a flip phone to keep in touch with his boys,” she said.
They dated for eight years and were married for 19.
“We shared a love of family, gardening and hiking. We hiked a lot. We travelled a lot,” she said.
Standout moments include hiking the entirety of the Bruce Trail, hiking in Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, and Tofino and Vancouver Island.
“He made me feel like he was the luckiest person in the world for choosing me.”
“He was a great, amazing man I miss dearly,” she said.
