It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Mr. James Kwok Shuen Tse (謝國璇), husband to Mrs. Helen Sui Yee Tse (謝瑞意), father of Patrick, Shirley and Kenneth and very proud grandfather to Nicholas, Daniel, Justin, Keisuke, Daisuke and Tristan. He passed away peacefully at Markham Stouffville Hospital on Saturday April 25th, 2020 at the age of 82 as a result of decade-long battle with Cancer.

James was born at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital in Hong Kong in 1937 to Mr. Cheung Tse (謝翔) and Mrs. Wai Ying Tse (謝蕙英). His mother lovingly gave him the alias of Tai Tai (弟弟) as he was the 2nd son born in the family of 6 brothers. He is the younger brother to Kwok Yee (國儀) & elder brother to Kwok Fun (國勳), Kwok Chiu (國釗) & Kwok Lun (國麟) and lovingly known throughout the Tse family as Yee Bak Fu (二伯父) and Yee Sook (二叔).

James was the first of his family to come to Canada and he officially became a Canadian Citizen in 1969. Shortly after, he married his wife Helen of 50+ years on September 20, 1969 at St. Basil’s Church in Toronto. In the following years, James focused on providing for his new young family but was also dedicated at helping his brothers who were newly settled in Toronto to allow them the opportunity to also raise their children comfortably.

In 1957 at the age of 20 after completing his studies at the St. Louis School in Hong Kong, James worked for the Government of Hong Kong as a clerk in the Kowloon-Canton railway. During this time James also completed a Certificate in Book-keeping at the Hong Kong Technical College in 1961 and additionally did some primary school teaching in the City of Hong Kong from 1960-1962.

In 1962, James’ passion for learning brought him to Canada to study at Acadia University at Wolfville, Nova Scotia majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Chemistry where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965.

Around 1965, he decided to move to London, Ontario to obtain his Master of Arts degree in Mathematics with a minor in Computing from the University of Western Ontario in 1967. During his studies, he received the Fellowship and Board Governor Award from the University of Western Ontario. With these accomplishments, James was the first in his family to ever obtain a post-secondary school degree and laid the foundation for many other Tse family members to follow.

James worked for the deHavilland Aircraft Company as an accountant to fund his studies and to kick off his career. In 1967, after accepting an offer to teach in Ottawa Canada, James instead chose to come to Toronto where he began his career teaching Mathematics for the Toronto Board of Education at Oakwood Collegiate Institute.

In 1968, James began a long career with the Government of Ontario working with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of the Environment and The Ministry of Transportation; retiring as Information and Technologies Manager with the Ministry of Labour in 1996. He was especially proud of his computing contributions to the “new Ontario Driver’s License control systems“ and printing “dot-matrix Snoopy” calendars for his children. James is a member of the Ontario Civil Service Quarter Century Club.

Post retirement, James returned to his passion for learning and teaching. He continued to teach and tutor mathematics to students of all ages as a teacher for ‘Grade Expectations’ and as a volunteer at Kipling Collegiate Institute in in Etobicoke.

In retirement, James passed on his love of Mahjong not only to his son Patrick, but also to Patrick’s Canadian friends, his wife Lori and his grandsons Tristan and Justin. Declaring a “Pung” (碰) or striving to get that elusive “Sap Saam Jiu” (十三么) continues to be a joyful tradition being carried on.

James has instilled his virtues of learning to his daughter Shirley & enjoyed touching many with the proverb “knowledge is power that can never be taken from you”. He has affirmed that females and males can achieve scholarly excellence equally. Consequently, all his children and grandchildren are lifelong learners and always strive towards their personal best. At his best, he continued with the Tse tradition with the annual visits to the CNE with his grandchildren.

As a father, James has taught and instilled some key virtues that his son Kenneth uses to this day. First would be to "do your research!" to ensure the choices you make are well thought out and consequences are understood. Secondly, “care about the end result!", which Kenneth translates to “be vigilant in your actions and morals to the very end”. Lastly, our Dad’s important practice of ”defensive driving!" has inspired Ken as a parent himself to keep his family safe at all times and to always save disposable income for one’s family.

During these unexpected times, James will be laid to rest with a private funeral service at York Cemetery on Saturday May 2nd, 2020 at 10:00am to be attended by his wife and children.

Although kindly appreciated, the family asks that flowers, monetary gifts or donations be withheld at this time. Your visitation to this website to view the photo gallery (Use the Photos Menu on the Top Right of this site), share memories (Photos of your own of James would be appreciated) and sign the guestbook will be greatly cherished by our family.


With Love,

Tse Family

Info: Due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 Pandemic, a small private family service will be performed by James’ immediate family on May 2, 2020.