Ronald Weiss was disciplined and determined, personal qualities that he applied to his first love of music—and then to his medical career. He was affectionately known as the “Wayne Gretzky of Vasectomies,” performing 58,789 procedures.
Colleagues estimated that he performed more vasectomies than any other doctor in the Western Hemisphere.
Weiss retired in 2011 after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma—the same aggressive form of brain cancer that claimed Canadian musical icon Gord Downie. Weiss outlived the initial 15-month prognosis and continued to enjoy an extraordinarily active life for four years, learning Spanish, travelling, and writing and performing music.
He died in Toronto on Oct. 24 at age 68.
Weiss grew up in Montreal and was the middle child of five boys. His father owned an electrical business and was the main contractor for Expo 67. Just before the October Crisis in 1970, his father abruptly moved the family to Vancouver, …