Dick Neal

Dick Neal passed away peacefully surrounded by family on October 15th 2025 at Parkridge Centre in Saskatoon. Dick was born on April 22nd, 1943 at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, England to Donald and Winifred Neal and was a younger brother to Fred and Sarah. He went to school in Coventry where he loved all sports especially running, athletics and field hockey. He went on to Southampton University where he earned a B.Sc in Zoology and then went on to complete a PhD. The field work for his PhD was done at Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda where he studied the reproductive cycles of African rodents. This began his lifelong love of Africa which he passed onto the rest of his family. While in Southampton, he met Jenny and they soon became inseparable. They married on July 29th 1967 in Exeter - a marriage that lasted for 58 years. After completing his PhD, Dick spent a year teaching in Cardiff, Wales before accepting a post as an assistant professor in the biology department at the University of Saskatchewan. We heard that the winters here were "brisk" but soon realized that was an understatement! Dick stayed at the University for his entire career, retiring in 2007 after 39 years of service. Dick was always a people - person. He loved teaching and taught a wide variety of classes (12 undergraduate and 3 graduate classes) but his favourite class was the field course that he taught in the summers at Emma Lake. There were so many pranks played that it is amazing that any work got done at all! He supervised many graduate students and was on the advisory committees of many more. His talents at administrative work were recognized when he was appointed Associate Dean (Academic) in the College of Arts and Science. He worked in this role for 8 years. In 1991, he was appointed to the Joint Federal -Provincial Panel on Uranium Mining Development in Northern Saskatchewan. This work involved many trips to isolated mining communities, listening to lengthy panel hearings.

Dick and Jenny were blessed with 3 children - Mark, Christine and Tim. When Mark was 3 and Christine 1 and a half, they had their first taste of Africa spending a sabbatical year in Kenya. When the 3 children were teenagers, we spent a memorable year in a really isolated game park in Zimbabwe. Dick and Jenny then spent two years in Durban, South Africa where Dick wrote his textbook "Introduction to Population Biology" which was well received and used in many classrooms.

Dick had many interests in life. He used to run every lunchtime with his friends, John King and Robin Morrall. He ran marathons and was very proud of his best marathon time of 2 hours 39 minutes. He loved pickleball, hiking in the Rockies and singing in the choir at St Martin's United church.

Dick had a great capacity for enjoying life. He loved to tell stories and to make people laugh. He loved children and nothing made him happier than their laughter. The arrival of his 4 grandchildren Leo, James, Kael and Charlotte gave him such joy. He never tired of playing with them, chasing games, monster, hide and seek. It usually felt like having 5 children around rather than 4!

Dick is survived by his wife, Jenny, his son Mark (Lynne), his daughter Christine Salamon, his son Tim (Charity) and 4 grandchildren Leo, James, Kael and Charlotte. He is also survived by his sister- in- law Christine Newman and her children, Anita and Mike.

The family would like to thank all the friends who have supported them during this dementia journey, especially John Sheard, Barb Morrall and Myrna King. The respect and loving care that the staff at Parkridge showed for Dick in the last few months of his life will always be appreciated.

A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, November 1st at 2:00p.m. at St. Martin's United Church, 2617 Clarence Avenue South, Saskatoon.