William James BONTHRON

Peacefully on Sunday, April 7, 2002 at age 65 in Ottawa. a soldier, diplomat and most recently an actor, Jim transcended the boundary between the United States and Canada. The descendant of Scots and grandson of Canadians, he was the son of the late William Robert Bonthron of Princeton, N.J. a world-champion sprinter in the 1930s and the late Marion Lineweaver of Martha's Vineyard, a poet. Educated at Selwyn House in Montreal, Bishop's in Lennoxville and St. Paul's in Concord, N.H., he took a history degree at Princeton University. As an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, he served with the U.S. Naval Mission to Haiti in 1959-61. He then joined the Black Watch Regiment in Montreal. Jim's subsequent 30-year career with Canada's Department of External Affairs took him to Belgium, the Congo, South Africa, Czechoslovakia, New York, Baghdad, Austria and Minneapolis. After his retirement in 1993, he accompanied his wife Gilliane to Costa Rica and China, where his roles in the TV series Xiao Lang Di and as Edgar Snow in the feature film Mao Zedong and Snow made him a familiar face on Chinese screens. His life-long enthusiasm for sailing, hockey and skiing was curtailed only by his courageous two-year battle with cancer. He is survived by his loving wife of 14 years, Gilliane (nee Lapointe); his children Alexandra, Catriona and Fiona; and his sisters and brothers Katama, Jennifer, Susan, William and Thomas. He will be profoundly missed by his adoring grandchildren Nicholas and Maddie, many nieces and nephews, and his admiring friends in Ottawa and around the world. A service to celebrate his life will be held in St. Bartholomew's Church, 125 MacKay St., at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 13. The Ottawa Citizen, 10-04-2002