Lorna Gail Gordon was born in Vancouver on February 23, 1941. A graduate of the UBC Faculty of Education, she passed away on August 22, 2016 after an eight-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

After Gail graduated from UBC, she joined her first husband, David Wales, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was completing a doctorate in mathematics at Harvard. She loved teaching six year-olds at Belmont Day School. They moved to Pasadena when David received his doctorate and accepted an appointment with Caltech. Gail and David had two children, Jonathan and Jennifer.

Gail earned a JD from USC and worked for the City Attorney of Los Angeles under Burt Pines. Then she practiced law with Pillsbury and with Hughes Hubbard and Reed. She had leadership positions in the Real Property section of the CA Bar Association, the Pacific Rim Council for Urban Development, the Los Angeles-Vancouver Sister Cities Association and Lambda Alpha, a real property fraternity. She also actively supported the International Visitors Council of LA.

In 2001, she and Sam Losh were married. She then gained Liz and Stephen Losh as children, as well as Sam’s step children, Janie Shary and Bob Morris, and nieces and nephews who descended from Sam’s sister Alberta Vaughan. These added to Gail’s many nieces and nephews in Canada. Gail’s sister, Margaret Alix James, of Gibsons BC, has had leadership roles in Education.

From 2008, Gail fought a persistent battle with Alzheimer’s, participating in clinical trials, while keeping up her active lifestyle. She and Sam skied, visited 106 countries, loved opera and other music, and had a full and active life until 2012 when she could no longer live at home. Gail was then cared for at Mission Lodge for three years and at Solheim in Eagle Rock for her final year.

In memory of Gail’s life, the Lorna Gail Gordon Bursary in Education has been established at UBC.

Gail had an enduring love for education, and continued on to pursue her Doctorate in Law in 1980 in California while raising two children. Your gift will pay tribute to Gail, by supporting bursaries for female students pursuing their education degree while raising a child.