Braid: How can I help? Dr. David Taras' simple motto for a better world

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Dr. David Taras’ cellphone message was famous among his friends, colleagues and relatives.

After a brief hello, he said: “Please let me know how I can help.”

That was David. His immediate instinct, always, was to help.

His wife, Joan, says the message was one of the first things she noticed when she started seeing David. “I knew right away that he always wanted to be of service, and really meant it.”

He was the prolific author and editor of 21 books, an inspirational teacher and regular political commentator (“natterer,” he called himself). The beloved Mount Royal University professor died last week after long struggles with cancer.

At Monday’s funeral, his son Joel described how David once handed some money to an unhoused man — and then thanked him.

When Joel asked why, David said the man had given him the precious opportunity to help.

Joel said his life became “immeasurably better” after his father taught him that lesson.

David leaves many fine legacies in academics, politics and teaching. They all grew from a purely personal quality — a humble, selfless way of living that is sorely needed in our times.

He reached across all social and political barriers with friendly grace, always drawing people together. If his spirit could somehow be spread among us, there would be far less division and anger in this country.

My wife and I have been fortunate friends for many years with David, Joan and the larger family. Scores of people who warm themselves at the Taras hearth would say the same.

In David’s final months I called him once a week, always hoping for some good news. He answered when he could. Toward the end, the conversations went like this: “How are you, David?”

“Not so great, really.”

He would briefly give some ominous details without a hint of complaint.

And then he said — every single time — “And how are you? Are you guys OK?”

David still wanted to know how he could help. If I’d said we needed groceries, he would have arranged a delivery.

Always an inspirational example for living, at the end he became, with the same gentle grace, a role model for leaving.

But David wasn’t trying to be any of that. He was simply a man doing his best for the people around him, always trying to make things better despite his own human challenges.

At the service, his son Matthew described how his father “was often very sad when nobody was looking,” an only child beset by deep, enduring grief over the loss of his own parents.

Politically, David was probably best described as a moderate centrist.

He could be acerbic in his judgment of Alberta conservative governments. Several premiers, present and past, have been stung by his comments and very angry at him. They forget that he was just as blunt about NDP failings when they were in power.

His friendships knew no partisan lines.

Years ago, David and Ted Morton were graduate students together in Toronto. Morton is an ardent conservative and University of Calgary professor emeritus who was Alberta’s finance minister in the Ed Stelmach government.

It’s no exaggeration to say their political camps were light years apart.

Yet they were always friends. When Morton heard of David’s condition he pressed for a student award to be established in his name.

David agreed. He had been at U of C for many years before moving to MRU.

Fundraising has now begun for the David Taras Graduate Award. On Wednesday, MRU created the Dr. David Taras Memorial Fund to support students and honour his values.

It’s a rare thing indeed for a professor to be similarly honoured by two universities in the same city.

David was a superb, inspirational teacher, named five times the very best by U of C students. At both U of C and MRU he laboured endlessly over his lectures, refining and memorizing every detail.

I spoke to his classes several times over the years, honoured to be asked but always suspecting that the students tolerated me because they adored him.

Sally Haney, journalism chair at MRU, interviewed David only a couple of weeks before his death. The audio is emotional; and David is, as always, honest and direct.

“I just love the classroom. I love the challenges of the classroom, I love people,” he said.

“I love reaching out and, most of all, I loved being able to lift those who didn’t seem to have a future . . .

“So I would say in the classroom, I was cheerleader-in-chief.”

Dr. David Taras was a cheerleader for everybody he encountered, from the struggling student to the person in the street.

He lived to give.

May his memory be a blessing.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald.

Twitter: @DonBraid