Mark Nicholas Dance

Mark Dance passed away peacefully on December 26, 2025, after a six-year battle with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). His loving wife, Christiane, was with him. He was 63 years old.

Mark was cut from a different cloth. He was truly exceptional. His brilliance in engineering was just one of his many qualities and manifested itself over decades in academia, working in high tech, his passion for model railroading, and the inspiring design of the family’s recreational property on Georgian Bay in Ontario.

Above and beyond this, Mark was an incredible leader, parent, and husband. He valued hard work and integrity, and was very compassionate. He delivered an endless stream of kind gestures to others, like a morning cup of coffee, or a custom burned CD playlist of his favourite blues songs. His love for his wife, his three children, many additional members of the extended family, friends, and pets lives on through all of us.

Mark was passionate about many subjects including music, business, engineering, model railroads, military history, and several sports. He excelled at any domain where he chose to apply himself. He was extremely curious and thrived in learning. He soaked up subjects and dove into the details.

Mark lived life with gratitude. He was very grateful for the interesting work he got to do and his early morning bike rides in the forest. Grateful for time to work quietly on his hobbies and to share them with his fabulous friends. Grateful to talk business with anyone who was trying to build one. Grateful to help people lead better, more fulfilling lives. Grateful for his wife, his pets, his cottage, the opportunity to learn from his three amazing kids, grateful to love them. Grateful to have a brother dear to him and his brother’s family. Grateful for the incredible musicians in the world whose creativity brought him decades of joy and awe.

Mark thought that we all have souls and that, despite science, there was no explaining the miracle of human creation. His soul is now sailing free, hovering near us, loving us, and guiding us.

The Dance family extends its most sincere gratitude to the extraordinary friendship, compassion and health care delivered by so many people and institutions over the last six years.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Canada to further research against this terrible disease.