Feb 21,1933 - Jan 22, 2025
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Liane Loiskandl just 29 days shy of 92 years.
She is survived by her son Dr Rainer Loiskandl and his wife Dr Barbara Loiskandl and her
grandchildren, Alexandra Jean, (Justin de Merchant), Anna Erika, Ava Marlena, and Michael James Warner.
Liane was born near Vienna Austria during the social struggles of the early 1930’s.
In her adolescence, she and her family survived the War but just 6 months after it’s end she lost her father to the lawlessness of that time. She went to work to help support her mother and younger brother. She did clerical work for the Russians who occupied her part of the country after the war. It was here that she met her husband Werner who had also lost much of his family and was employed as technician at what became the Austrian National Oil Company (OMV).
With the Russians firmly ensconced in Austria and with economic opportunities being limited, the family began their emigration to Canada. Werner sent for Liane after his first year and then the year after that they sent for their son, her mother and her brother. They all entered Canada through Pier 21 in Halifax and they eventually settled in Toronto.
Liane worked full-time when few women yet worked. She learned english on the job and never relied on government programs to become established because there was nothing of that sort then. The family saved for a house and proudly became citizens. Canada was full of promise. The Avro Arrow regularly circled over our Rexdale home as it prepared to land at Malton Airport.
My mother eventually became one of the first female executives for a large manufacturing company and led the computerization of that company. At night and on weekends in the early 70’s, when not travelling for business she attended York University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
The outdoors always beckoned to her. She fell in love with camping on Beausoleil Island on Georgian Bay and water skied and snowmobiled with her family and friends. She also loved the mountains and skied them at Mt. Tremblant, Banff, Jasper and Kitzbuhel, Austria.
She and Werner, being early settles on Present Island, built not one but eventually two successive cottages. To be closer to her grandchildren, she and my father moved to Barrie where she built a successful career at Royal Lepage Real Estate. They cruised the Caribbean several times and loved Alaska so much they cruised it twice. And for many years she and my father golfed in Hilton Head where they spent the winters.
When my father’s health began to fail my mother sold the family home on Oakridge Drive and downsized to an IOOF condo on Dean Ave. After 66 years of marriage, my father passed away and for the last 8 years she lived alone without assistance. She drove her own car until last spring.
On January 3rd, she suffered a significant stroke which left her unable to communicate with others. I believe that she quickly realized that she would become dependent for her care, and in typical Liane fashion allowed the effects of the stroke to take her.
She lived a very full and active life despite coming from the destructive times of the war. She was always positive and smiling and accepting of others. Through her own hard work, she became a proud new Canadian who relished the wonders that Canada offered.
The Loiskandl family is grateful to the staff of the RVH Stroke Unit and Dr Peter Cameron and the staff of Tomkins House in Penetanguishene. In memoriam donations may be made to Tomkins House
