March 13, 2006 РA memorial service was held Friday for Andr̩ Laplante, coach of the McGill University Nordic ski team and an associate professor in the department of mining, metals and materials, who died suddenly after a local competition on March 5. He was 52.

Laplante collapsed of an apparent stroke, shortly after completing a cross-country orienteering ski race with the team at Morgan Arboretum on the University’s suburban campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.

One of his common sayings was “to let the rocks talk” and his contributions to the mining industry within Canada and abroad were significant. He was an internationally recognized expert for his research in gravity methods for recovering gold. Among his achievements, he made many positive contributions to the advancement of the Canadian mineral processing industry, especially in the areas of testing, research and development. He conducted countless technical presentations and papers to the field of mineral recovery. He was considered a pioneer in developing and creating the industry’s standard characterization methods.

Born in 1953, Laplante studied engineering at Université de Montreal, where he earned a bachelor of science in 1974 and a master’s degree in 1976. He completed a doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1980 and was employed by McGill later that year. Laplante was appointed an associate professor in 1986 and later named an honorary visiting researcher at the A.J. Parker Research Center for Hydrometallurgy at Murdoch University in Western Australia.

A man of great faith, he was an avid sports lover, with a penchant for bridge and chess. He was known for his wonderful teaching abilities, exemplary honesty and enormous joie-de-vivre. A great teacher and scholar, he had the uncanny ability to make people laugh as he shared his wisdom and humanity. He was passionate about everything that he did and about his family.

Laplante is survived by his wife Carol-Susan, as well as his children Jeremie and Amelie, his brothers and sisters Pierre, Bernard, Monique and Helene.

Donations in his memory may be made to Right to Play (www.righttoplay.com), an international humanitarian organization that use sport to help children in poor countries.