Stuart MacDougall

“I want you to miss me, but I don’t want you to suffer for it and dwell on it. I want you to have joy in your lives.” – Stuart, September 2026

After years of enduring and struggling with lung cancer, Stuart MacDougall passed away on September 13, 2026 in Ottawa. He will be missed, remembered, and loved by his wife Andrea Tritton, his children Colin and Emerson (Emmy), as well as his parents Jamie and Michele, his sister Jennifer Paige and her husband Graham Lonergan, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Stuart was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, raised in Westmount, Quebec, attended Dalhousie University in Halifax, and graduated from McGill University in Computer Science.

His professional trajectory saw him fulfill the roles of programmer, manager, and eventually CTO, specialising in Internet advertising. He started his career at the search engine mamma.com during the Internet boom, moved on to Aeroplan, and eventually the start-up SourceKnowledge, all in Montreal, where many of his colleagues were added to his long list of life-long friends.

Personally, Stuart (finally!) married his friend and office spouse, Andrea, and fulfilled his dream to have a family of his own, constantly striving to do everything in his power to make them happy and safe – no small feat with his autistic son Colin, otherwise known as “Mr. Adventure.” His greatest achievement in life, though, was teaching his daughter, Emerson, how to ride a bike.

Stuart was a true renaissance man who had an avid curiosity about anything and everything, from the stars and galaxies, to genetics, philosophy, religion, and politics. He wanted to know what made the world tick, and was always eager to learn more. He felt most at home in nature, no matter the location. He had a particular nostalgia for his time camping out in the woods at Dean Lake and for the family cabin on Harmony Lake in his ancestral homeland of Nova Scotia, as well as the treasured century old “Cheese Factory” – or The Bridge End Dairy Company – in Eastern Ontario. That’s where he honed his fishing skills in Loch Garry, as well as in many other lakes and waterways in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, The Northwest Territories, and Labrador.

When he wasn’t looking down into the waters, Stuart was looking up at the sky – at the birds soaring overhead. He had a fascination for them, and found joy feeding them, as well as the chipmunks who would stealthily steal their seeds.

He loved to travel, and had many adventures throughout the Caribbean with his family as a child, and would later return to Barbados with Andrea, after exploring Egypt, Paris and Italy together. It was at the foot of the Rialto Bridge in Venice where he had the best meal of his entire life, as the embankment of the Grand Canal slowly flooded.

Above all else, though, Stuart’s true love (besides Andrea) was music.

He learned to play guitar as a young boy – inspired by The Beatles to whom he would jump up and down on the bed playing a tennis racket along to their records – and never looked back. He was an accomplished musician, who played, sang, composed and performed. But more than anything, he relished his time spent jamming with his friends – that’s where he was in his element.

The true essence of Stuart can be found in the article he wrote If ever you decide to sell it again, published in the special 50th edition of the highly respected guitar magazine “The Fretboard Journal,” about a 1974 Martin D-18 he bought from Bob Mesher – an Inuk from Labrador and Nunavik (northern Quebec), and how 13 years later, he sought its previous owner to sell it back. When he discovered Bob had passed away, Stuart donated it to Bob’s family where he felt it belonged. It was pure Stuart.

Stuart will be sorely missed, but our memories of him will continue to bring joy to our lives.

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date, with details to be announced.

Anyone wishing to honour Stu’s memory may make a donation in his name to Sonshine Community Ministries, dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities, at https://sonshinefamilies.ca/donate/