In loving memory of Richard Ostrofsky

December 2nd 1942 – October 2nd 2025

Beloved friend, teacher, father and grandfather, Richard died at Verdun Hospital in Montreal on October 2nd with his daughter Maya by his side.

He is remembered affectionately by his family and many friends as a man of keen intelligence and boundless curiosity, unafraid to live life on his own terms and who loved nothing more than to wrestle with complex ideas and engage in heated philosophical conversations.

Intellectually demanding (and sometimes infuriating!), Richard was a free and largely autodidact thinker who read and wrote on a wide range of topics at the intersection of philosophy, psychology, history, politics, religion and biology. His notable works include Sharing Realities: Toward an Epistemology of Conversation, The ecoDarwinian Paradigm: in a landscape of suggestions and Second Thoughts, a collection of essays written between 1995 and 2006, during which time he owned and ran Second Thoughts, a used bookstore in Ottawa, with his partner Carol.

Another of Richard’s great passions was Aïkido, the Japanese martial art he practiced and taught for nearly 40 years. He founded the first Aikikai dojo in Ottawa in the early 1980’s and introduced many students to what would become for them a lifelong discipline.

He will be deeply missed by all those who valued his generosity, his humour, his culture, and the remarkable richness and scope of his mind.

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”

– Heraclitus