Obituaries:
Milton McCann MBE.
We have had
the sad news that Milton McCann MBE has passed away in Calcutta,West Bengal,
India. We have been told that he fell down in the early hours of Sunday 18th
September, 2011 in the bathroom; he later became unconscious and passed away. He
had been suffering from high blood pressure for a number of years.
Born in Rangoon,
Burma, 29th September 1931, Milton was a Martinian
having joined the Lucknow Martiniere in 1946 in Standard Eight and continued
through to the end of 1948, finishing off with the Senior Cambridge examination.
Both Richard Temple and I were in the same classes and dormitories as Milton,
whom we knew well.
After leaving school he
joined the steel firm of Jessops in West Bengal , however his desire to serve
the poor whom he daily saw, touched his heart and he resigned a promising
career with Jessops to have more time to help the needy . He set up classes
under tree cover which he himself taught at, from dawn to dusk . It was one of
these classes that came to the notice of the High Commissioner of Canada who
stopped by. He was touched and provided funds for Milton to buy land and set up
a school which Milton operated from a tin shed. This was the start of Milton’s
work for the poor, to which he devoted his entire life.