By Graeme Smith
Chantal Hall-Skinner, an honours business student at Ryerson, died Feb. 28, after an operation to replace a heart valve. She was 28.
Hall-Skinner had earned a grant for a project she was working on the same day she died at Toronto Hospital’s cardiac care centre.
“It’s a very sad irony,” said Mary Foster, who was working with Hall-Skinner.
Those who knew her said Hall-Skinner worked hard at everything. She worked at Ryerson Business Consulting Services (RBCS) for two years.
Her supervisor, Rita de Haan, said Hall-Skinner had become an excellent moderator for market research focus groups, and planned to make it a career. “She was a much sought-after person,” said de Haan.
People close to Hall-Skinner remember her radiant presence more than anything. “When you think of Chantal, you think of her with a smile on her face,” said Foster.
The youngest of four children, Hall-Skinner came to Canada from England as an au pair. Hall-Skinner started taking night school classes at Ryerson in 1992, and enrolled in the business program in 1994.
She married Curtis Skinner last September.
Lee Maguire, interim associate dean of business management, said her death hit people hard. “It dropped us to our knees for a week.
“It’s terrible to lose one so young and bright.”
Hall-Skinner would have graduated with honours this year. Her husband will accept her degree posthumously.
The school of business and her family have established a scholarship fund in her honour.
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