It is with great sadness and regret that I inform you of the recent death of Dr.
Mike Nelson in Nanaimo B.C. Mike had a distinguished career in Health Promotion over
the last 20 years as a private consultant , federal employee and on the Board of
Directors for the Canadian and B. C. public health associations.

 Most of his Canadian colleagues will remember Mike's vision and sense of humor.
Mike was always there with a new idea and a humorous perspective at conferences and
meetings . I have lost a close friend and will miss him terribly.

 His family have asked that friends and colleagues write notes of remembrances of
Mike to celebrate his life and to be included in a ‘gathering" on May 31st. I would
be happy to receive these notes and present them to the family.

The following notice appeared in the local press

Nelson, Dr. Michael Davidson, age 51, passed away April 23, 1998, in
Nanaimo, B.C.  Mike was a loving and devoted husband and father, and he was
deeply committed to friends and the communities in which he resided.  As an
applied sociologist, and as a creative thinker with a passionate social
conscience, Mike worked to make the world around him a better place in
which to live.   In the 1980s, he worked for four federal government
departments, holding senior positions in policy, evaluation and research,
and program development.  After moving to British Columbia in 1991, Mike
combined consulting and occasional university teaching with a high level of
volunteer work in national and local organizations.  At the time of his
death, Mike headed NHN Consulting Group, was Vice-President of the Public
Health Association of British Columbia, a director of the Mid-Island Public
Participation Society, and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Institute
for Health Promotion Research, University of British Columbia.  He formerly
served as a director of the Canadian Public Health Association (Chair of
the Environmental and Occupational Health Division), Co-Chair of the City
of Nanaimo's Social Planning Advisory Committee, and President of Manotick
(Ontario) Project Ploughshares.

He will be terribly missed by his wife, Dr. Susan Hess Nelson, son, Chad,
daughter, Janet, parents, Dr. Charles and Dorothea Nelson, brothers William
(Jacki) and James (Dr. Mary D), aunt, Berniece Brown (Donald), in-laws (the
Hess family), and many cousins, nephews and nieces.  All who knew Mike are
invited to share memories of his wisdom, passion, wit, sense of humor and
enjoyment of life.  A celebration of his life will be held at the family
residence (6961 Saxon Cross Road, Lantzville, BC, V0R 2H0), Sunday, May 31,
1998 at 2 p.m., followed by a reception.

Rick Wilson