Clinton (Clint) Shard, 1993 – 2022
When I started working at the last job that I had, before my medical leave due to a rare disease, I was assigned to a workspace in a windowless former storage area. The company’s entire three-floor office building was about to undergo massive renovations, completely gutting one floor at a time and squeezing employees into smaller spaces in the meantime.
This, obviously, was long before the work-at-home reality that so many office workers have been experiencing over the past few years. My new boss apologized profusely, as did the building manager – an old friend from a previous job… ironically a job in the same building. But I really didn’t mind. I had finally found my dream job, combining my beloved bioethics with philanthropy; ethical corporate giving, to healthcare charities.
The first few months of my new job were going to be spent reading and writing policies so that I could set up and implement a new program. Having a quiet space, where I could focus on reading and writing, was actually a benefit. Besides, I’d seen the plans for the renovated building which was going to be gorgeous. It was well worth working in a cave-like space for a year or two, while waiting for the transformation to a ‘brand new’ office space.
Summer students and interns would come and go, but two of us stayed in what we called the “Bat Cave” for the entire pre-renovation period. I didn’t know it at the time, but that “Bat Cave” turned out to be the best place to work – because I got to know Clinton Shard.
Despite our difference in ages, we bonded over our shared loves of mountain hiking and traveling – as opposed to just being tourists. We also shared a belief in the importance of kindness, even within the corporate world. We followed each other on Instagram and Twitter, and here on LinkedIn, often DM-ing funny news stories while he was travelling for work.
He shared the “Two Boys, One Bus” story, which I also followed on social media. I got him hooked on The Guardian (UK) newspaper website for relatively impartial news, he’d send me travel review articles with his own comments.
Clint was a young man set to make his mark on the world, in business as much as in patient advocacy for his illness – Crohn’s Disease. So our friendship deepened when I was diagnosed with a rare disease later in 2016.
He was also a young man far from his home in BC, recently transferred to Montréal, so he let me “mother hen” him – but just a bit. We’d coordinate medical appointments, at different hospitals, so I could drop him off and pick him up. He didn’t have a car, and Montréal is still very much a car-oriented city.
After I went on medical leave in late 2018, for a ‘mild cognitive impairment’ from my rare disease, we kept in touch through email and DMs – mostly on the positive aspects of our lives. Our patient advocacy, outdoor sports, art.
In 2020 Clint found love – his soulmate – and left the company in early 2021 to stay ‘out west’ and nurture that relationship, rather than transferring back to the corporate head office in Montréal. He spent that summer in his beloved mountains, with a local organization.
In October 2021 he received an unexpected diagnosis. Clint passed away on April 30, 2022. He was 29.
He had more adventures in his short “dash” than most people have in a lifetime. His family posted an obituary on Clint’s Facebook page a few days ago (https://www.facebook.com/clintonshard), with plans for a Celebration of Life on June 25 in BC.
The also asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a scholarship set up at the Howe Sound Secondary School; the “C-Level Scholarship”. The obituary provides details of how to make a donation to this scholarship fund.
Why a scholarship? This was important to Clint, as one of the first recipients of an “AbbVie IBD Scholarship” through Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. (https://crohnsandcolitis.ca/News-Events/News-Releases/Celebrating-10-Years-of-Student-Success)
My deepest condolences to Clint’s family and friends, to everyone who got to know him.
To honour Clint, let’s look upon each day as new opportunity for adventure and for personal growth. And let’s all be kind.
Feel free to also send a cheque to the “C-Level Scholarship” at the Howe Sound Secondary School, in Clint’s memory – something I’ll be doing tomorrow morning.