McGill Mech Eng 1968: Peter Von Der Porten

I joined McGill University in September 1966, after finishing the first two years of Mechanical Engineering at University of Ottawa. Among my new friends at McGill was Peter Von Der Porten. At that time, out of curiosity, I thought Peter could have had his roots in Germany, or in some countries in that area of Europe. But, my curiosity stopped there, until many years later with the help of Google I found out that his name had many variations, with lots of people living in Belgium and the spelling of "Von Der Porten" is more popular in Canada.

Curiosity aside, I could not help noticing his ever-present smiles and his eyeglasses with thick black frames. Although I did not have much of a chance to socialize with Peter while at McGill, I always remembered him with such image. At the 50^th anniversary celebration dinner on October 12, 2018, I happened to share the same table with Peter and his wife (Marjo) as if it had been magically arranged. Sitting practically diametrically opposed from him, I could not help noticing the happy man exchanging (funny) stories with my close friend, Vanbe Quach. Unfortunately, that was my last memory of him. It would not have been so, if I did not receive the sad news from Allan Kohl on April 12, 2021 that Peter had passed away.

I have tried to search for Peter's photos within my reach; here they are:

Fun times before graduation