Giving Back

REMEMBERING NORAH MAIER BY GUEST WRITER NOMI MORRIS ’80

Dr. Norah Maier left an indelible mark on a generation of UTS students and on the school, passing away on June 26, 2021 at age 81. One of the school’s first three female teachers, she taught English from 1973 to 1995. An international leader in the education of gifted students, she played a vital role in the school’s transition to co-education, among many contributions that led to her being inducted into the UTS Hall of Fame in 2018.

In tributes that poured in after Norah’s death, alumni remembered her as an innovative educator who combined intellectual rigour with emotional passion. For the first generation of women graduates she served as a role model of confidence and accomplishment. “Norah said ‘Yes’ to experience, she said ‘Yes’ to ideas. She was open to everything,” said UTS Foundation Board member Vanessa Grant ’80. Norah’s colleague, Art teacher Don Boutros, said she sought to “awaken something in each individual.” Others referred to her as a “force of nature” with a rare “lust for life.”

Born in Russian-controlled Ukraine in 1939, Norah immigrated to Toronto at age 10. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts in Theatre from the University of British Columbia. She later did a PhD in Education at U of T, writing her dissertation on training teachers to educate gifted children. She was an author and editor of Teaching the Gifted: Challenging the Average, among other publications.

Early in her time at UTS, Norah directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which included student cast members who went on to careers in theatre. Other UTS alumni who became writers and journalists cite her as a critical influence. “She insisted on her own kind of vitality and beauty and brilliance and it was utterly seductive and transformative – the way some people shift how you experience the world,” said novelist Catherine Bush ’79, who played Titania in that 1975 Shakespeare production.

Norah sat for five years on a key U of T academic council, advocating for the school at a time when the university was considering separating itself from UTS. She represented staff in the Alumni Association and suggested the idea of class reps for each graduating year. Outside UTS, she was a founder of the World Council on Gifted and Talented Children and sat on its executive for 12 years – four as president. In 1993, she brought the organization’s tenth world conference to Toronto.

After meeting Edward de Bono, who coined the term ‘lateral thinking,’ Norah created a Thinking course which ran at UTS for several years.

Norah spent 1995 to 2000 in Singapore, after its government invited her to raise that nation’s level of creative thinking. In her final two decades, she lived near Vienna and did charitable work in Europe. She became Lady Norah Maier after being invested as a Knight in the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta.

Norah’s husband Franz, a photojournalist, predeceased her in 2001. She leaves her niece and nephew, Irina and Nick Bobrow, and many alumni who will never forget her impact on their lives. Martha Drake

Executive Director, Advancement

The Norah Maier Award for Creativity has been established at UTS to acknowledge Norah’s legacy to the school. Donations may be made online at utschools.ca/ donate or by contacting david.haisell@utschools.ca.

Dr. Norah Maier with Nomi Morris ’80