Remembering Dr. Balfour Mount

In Loving Memory of Dr. Balfour Mount (1939-2025)

We invite you to contribute your memories, stories, and tributes to Dr. Mount. Whether you knew him personally or were touched by his work, your submission will help honour and celebrate his enduring legacy. Submissions will be published on this page to commemorate Dr. Mount’s life and achievements. Dr. Mount passed away on September 29, 2025, in Montreal, Quebec, in the very unit named in his honour at the Royal Victoria Hospital—the Balfour Mount Palliative Care Unit.

Please share any photos, images or recordings that you have. These will be used to ensure that Dr. Mount's legacy is preserved for future generations.

A Pioneer and Visionary in Palliative Care

Fifty years ago, in 1975, Dr. Mount launched the world’s first Palliative Care Unit and Service in Montreal, a groundbreaking initiative that has since become the template for global practice. Widely acknowledged as the “father” of palliative care, Dr. Mount coined the term ‘Palliative Care’ to describe his innovative integration of British hospice traditions, American thanatology, and Canadian academic medicine.

Dr. Mount’s influence extended far beyond Montreal. As the founding Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service, Palliative Care McGill, and the McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care, as well as the founding President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Medicine (CSPM), he reshaped the field of medicine in Canada and around the world. His leadership touched teaching, research, patient care, and the very philosophy of medicine.