The University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Juri Daniel, professor emeritus and former director of the School of Physical Health and Education (SPHE), the precursor to KPE. Daniel died on October 6, approximately seven months before his 100th birthday.
He was born in Estonia in 1923 and came to Canada in 1948. He graduated from U of T with a bachelor’s degree in physical health and education in 1954, followed by a degree in psychology in 1957. Daniel joined SPHE in 1962 and served as director of the school from 1972 to 1979, earning his PhD in leadership theory and education psychology in the meantime from the University of Illinois in 1971.
“I first met Juri when I was a young boy,” says Professor Emeritus Bruce Kidd. “He taught me to swim, first at the Broadview Y(MCA) and then the following summer at the YMCA leadership camp in Geneva Park, where my parents had a cottage and Juri was physical director.
“He was like a Greek god, a fit and confident instructor and an inspirational role model for a boy who loved sports.”
Some years later, in the spring of 1973, the two would cross paths again when Kidd applied for a teaching job with SPHE. With the 1976 summer Olympic Games set to take place in Montreal, governments across Canada were establishing sports departments and gradually changing the nature of sport and physical activity in Canada, recalls Kidd.
“As director, Daniel was gradually changing the focus of SPHE from teacher preparation to a more disciplinary approach to the study of sport and physical activity,” he says. “He wanted someone to conduct research into public policy and sport, and teach students about the changing world into which they would graduate. The school advertised for a social scientist and I persuaded him and the search committee to hire me to research and teach the political economy of Canadian sports.”
Kidd remembers Daniel as a consultative leader who was always trying to forge a consensus among faculty and students. Daniel was also a driving force of the integration of what were once separate men’s and women’s athletic departments and men’s and women’s physical education departments that taught compulsory physical education to undergraduates at U of T. That integration became the department of athletics and recreation.
“At the time, Juri wanted to go further and integrate that new entity with the academic programs in SPHE, but the university hesitated and it never happened,” says Kidd, who would eventually become dean of the integrated Faculty of Physical Health and Education. “I was always persuaded by Juri’s vision and so, when I had the opportunity, I worked to integrate the school and the department of athletics and recreation to create the Faculty. It was his snowball. I just threw it.”
Daniel leaves two powerful legacies, according to Kidd: One is a commitment to a multi-disciplinary academic program, with strengths and applications across the full range of academic disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to the physical and biophysical sciences, and the practice of physical activity.
“The other is a commitment to an integrated Faculty/health centre, with research informing teaching informing programs and practice informing research and so on,” says Kidd. “Juri clearly articulated those ideas—it just took us longer to realize them.”
Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, met Daniel as an undergraduate student in SPHE, while taking two of his courses, one on organizational behaviour and the second on the psychophysiology of stress.
“I enjoyed Juri’s teaching style and the content so much, I asked if he would supervise me on an independent research course in my senior year, a course we still offer today,” says Kerr. “To my benefit, Juri agreed to supervise me and throughout the research course experience, I had the privilege of meeting regularly with him to discuss the research and our field more broadly.
“Juri was a big believer in education of the physical and perhaps more importantly, education through the physical. He advocated for the use of physical activity, exercise, sport, recreation and dance as vehicles through which health and development are enhanced and communities are built.”
Kerr and Kidd both recall that for many years, even as head of SPHE, Juri and his wife Mia taught swimming to children and adults.
“His commitment to the practice of physical activity was also exemplified by his routine of swimming or rowing for an hour at a time, several times per week, well into his 90s,” says Kerr, who continued to meet with Daniel long after he retired in 1989.
“Our most recent meeting was this past August,” she says. “He was always keenly interested in the goings-on in the Faculty and the university and was a reliable source of sage advice.
“I consider myself to be so fortunate to have benefitted from Juri’s mentorship over the past four decades. He provided wisdom, perspective and clarity on the path forward, helped to trouble-shoot challenges, and was always a source of strong support.”
Daniel’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach in kinesiology is still evident in the Faculty today and, in many ways, distinguishes it from other kinesiology programs across the country, says Kerr.
“In addition to the range of academic disciplines in our academic program, Juri was instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of physical activity and placement experiences,” she says. “He was a promoter of experiential education and the integration of theory and practice long before experiential education became a familiar term.”
An avid athlete, Daniel’s many accomplishments include winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the Estonian National Swimming Championships between 1942 to 1944, and earning a gold medal in javelin as a U of T student at the 1953 Canadian university track & field championship.
He was the YMCA sports director from 1950 to 1959 and U of T swimming coach from 1962 to 1971, winning four Ontario and three Canadian university sports championships. In 1967, Daniels was named Canadian university swimming coach of the year and in 1992, he was inducted into U of T’s Sport Hall of Fame..
Daniel leaves behind his wife Mia, sons Juri Jr. and Omar, and their families.