Dennis Connolly
Service Details
Our beloved Dennis died in Foothills Hospital, Calgary, on Thursday October 23, 2025, after suffering a major heart attack at home, from which he never regained consciousness. His family thanks Lethbridge EMS, the nursing staff at Chinook Regional Hospital, the STARS medics, and all the doctors and nurses in the Foothills Cardiac I.C.U (especially Nurse Ram and Dr. Joshi) who all worked so hard to try to save Dennis.
Dennis is survived by his wife Kate, his son David, daughter Helen, and his cherished granddaughter Rose; also by his brother Michael and his sisters Sue (Bill) and Lee (Pete) in Australia and his brother-in-law Martin (Janet) and sister-in-law Sarah (Peter) in England, and by his much-loved nephews and nieces (14 of them) in both Australia and Europe.
Dennis lived a rich, full life with joy and enthusiasm. He was born in Wagga Wagga, Australia on January 1, 1944, and brought up in Sydney by his mother Patricia and father Patrick, with his three younger siblings. After an Honours degree in Mathematics at Sydney University, Dennis was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship for his Masters degree at Western University in London, Ontario. On his way back to Australia, he applied to the new University of Lethbridge.
Dennis began teaching there in September 1967; he taught over 10,000 students in his 54 years of teaching. Dennis was a huge supporter and patron of the University Pronghorns teams, and of theatre and opera, both on campus and in the community.
Dennis loved life; he was always positive, energetic, cheerful, generous and considerate. Parkinson’s Disease slowed him down physically over the last few years, but did not dampen his zest for life, for projects and research. His love for his students, his friends, and above all, his family remained as strong as ever. Dennis will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered by many, many people on three continents.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00PM on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at MARTIN BROTHERS RIVERVIEW CHAPEL, 610 – 4 St. S, Lethbridge.