Rory grew up in Saint John and, after graduating from Saint John High School in 2002, attended the University of New Brunswick to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Early in the pursuit of his degree Rory was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Despite being forced to undergo several different courses of chemotherapy, radiation treatments and trips across the country and internationally to seek treatment, Rory continued with his studies and completed his degree in 2010. This was one of his greatest accomplishments of his short life.
Rory refused to let his illness dictate the terms of his life, and concerned inquiries about his illness were quickly steered to other topics. He continued through all stages of his treatment to be a social magnet, bringing groups of friends together from all across the country to have a good time and enjoy life. Whether he was taking his friends out on the river, organizing pub crawls, fixing a friend’s bike or just getting a group together on a Friday night he brought an immense amount of joy into the lives of his friends and family.
In this spirit, his family and friends have established a scholarship, in his memory, to support a second or third year UNB engineering student. Our goal is to create a self-sustaining scholarship to help a student in need with their tuition costs.
We encourage you to donate online and you can also help us reach our goal by supporting our annual fundraising event, “Rorypalooza." Rorypalooza brings together Rory’s many friends, family and colleagues to celebrate his memory while raising money for the scholarship.
We encourage you to share this page with family, friends and colleagues who may have known Rory, and to help honour his memory by making a gift in support of the memorial fund at UNB online or by mail.
Establishing named scholarships, bursaries or other funds is an easy and meaningful way to ensure that you or someone you care about is remembered with a special connection to UNB. Contact us to learn more.
