Nipissing mourns loss of student Mario Lavoie after battle with cancer
Mario Gaëtan Jean-Marc Lavoie
May 7, 2001 - July 14, 2021
The Nipissing University community is mourning the loss of Mario Gaëtan Jean-Marc Lavoie who passed away on July 14, 2021 after a long battle with cancer (spindle cell sarcoma). Mario was 20 years old.
We offer our deepest condolences to Mario’s family, friends and all members of the Nipissing community who knew him. He will be deeply missed by his parents, Patrick Lavoie and Sylvie Breton-Lavoie, his brother Gabriel Lavoie, his grandmothers Cécile Lavoie (Cyril) and Diane Breton (Jean-Marc), uncles, aunts, cousins, other members of his extended family and his numerous friends.
Mario was an upper year student in the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program. Born and raised in North Bay, Mario would have liked to establish himself in Ottawa after finishing his schooling and to work in video game development.
In memory of Mario, the family is encouraging donations in his name to the Canadian Sarcoma Research and Clinical Collaboration (CanSaRCC), a group of physicians, scientists and other health care providers across Canada dedicated to improving the outcome for patients with sarcoma. You can donate online here.
A celebration of life will be held on Thursday, July 29 at the Davedi Club in North Bay. Doors will open at 2 p.m. and the ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. A meal will be served. Please contact Pat Lavoie (patrlavoie@bell.net ) to reserve your place. Guests are encouraged to dress casually, as Mario preferred.
In this time of grief and mourning, we encourage members of our Nipissing community to lean on one another for support and to use the university resources outlined below.
A family obituary is available online here.
Support Services
For staff and faculty, the Employee Assistance Program through Aspiria is available for support. For more information, please click on this link.
For students, counsellors are available for support through University Student Counselling Services. They can be contacted at www.nipissingu.ca/counselling or 705-474-3450 ext. 4507. Students can also contact Connex at https://www.connexontario.ca/ or Good2Talk at 1-866-925-5454 to locate supports in their area.