The Mirror, December 2019 The Mirror December 9, Rev Dec 9 | Page 24

IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Gerald (Gerry) Zanvil Wright
1935 - 2019
It is with sadness that we share news that Dr. Gerald (Gerry) Zanvil
Wright – professor emeritus at Schulich Dentistry and a passionate
local and international advocate of dental training in pediatric practice -
passed away at home surrounded by the love of his family on October
30, 2019 and is survived by his wife Nancy, his children Michael
(Robyn), Charles (Jill), Jeffrey (Linh) and his six grandchildren Simone,
Maxine, Lexi, Josh, Theo and Lily.
He was always a Winnipeg north ender, the poor side of town, and throughout his career he helped those who
had seen hardship in life.
After graduating from U of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry in 1960, he returned to Winnipeg to practice and was
encouraged by Dr. Wilf Feasby to study pediatric dentistry. In 1971, having graduated from pediatric dentistry at
Indiana University, he joined Dr. Feasby, now located at Western University, and began an illustrious academic
career.
As a DDS, MSD, FRCD (C), Dip. American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, he was an internationally respected
clinician, writer and Professor Emeritus at Western University. He was a member of the Department of Pediatric
Dentistry and became the Chair of the Division of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry.
His innovations led to the creation of several programs, including being founder and director of Operation Belarus,
a project to improve dentistry in Belarus.
With colleagues at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, he also developed the Mustang Dental Conference
and at the end of his academic career he was responsible for creating the Qualifying Program (later known as the
International Program) for landed immigrants who were trained as dentists outside of Canada. He edited/authored
numerous scientific articles and five books, including writing the leading text on behaviour management of children
in the dental office; the newly revised edition will be titled Wright’s Behaviour Management in Dentistry for
Children in his honour.
As a matter of note, Dr. Wright was the Keynote Speaker at the 2012 Canadian Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Annual Conference on the topic of Behaviour Management
He served on the Board of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, was an Examiner as well as a Fellow of
the Royal College of Dentistry and worked with dentists around the world as Secretary General of the International
Association of Pediatric Dentistry (IAPD. Among his initiatives was creating Dentists for All Children, which helped
academics in low-income nations, and the IAPD International lecture program.
Dr. Wright was a Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, at Baylor College in Texas, at Sydney
University in Australia, at Ulm University in Germany, and Trinity College in Ireland.
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