Sumona Sanyal Obituary, Death – Sumona Sanyal has died. In the years that followed, while I was working at the Norval Outdoor School alongside Andrew Hiebert, I had the chance to get professionally acquainted with Sumona. At that time, we were both teaching there. We were both students at the same outdoor school during that period of time.
A tremendous opportunity bestowed upon me by Sumona was the chance to work together on a project. Because of the natural talent that she possessed, she was able to foster relationships, both with her students and with the other people in her workplace, that were lively, humorous, and full of fun. I had no idea that going to work could bring a feeling of accomplishment on par with everything else in my life.
Since that time, the work that Sumona did as a teacher in the York Region District School Board (and later as an administrator) has served as an inspiration to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of children. Sumona, for those of us who were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to come to know you, you have left an immense and permanent impression that will be with us for the rest of our lives.
She was the kind of person who got along well with a wide variety of individuals and found it easy to make friends with them all. She was also the kind of person who was always a leader within the school community, was highly involved with athletics, and was the kind of person who was extremely sociable and outgoing.