ABOUT BENJAMIN
It is with the heaviest grief that our family shares that the warm, brilliant, funny, and endlessly creative Benjamin Marks Jia Xian Woo died unexpectedly on November 11 at Vancouver General Hospital. He was 32.
Benjamin was predeceased by his grandparents, Mong Swee Fong and Woo Hon Thoong. He is deeply mourned by his parents, Patricia McAvity and Yuen Pau Woo; his siblings Naomi, Emma, and Noah; his grandparents Marks and Margaret McAvity. He is missed by aunts, uncles, cousins, and family in Canada, the US, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, and Kenya, and friends scattered around the world.
Benjamin was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. After moving to North Vancouver at age 4, he attended École Sherwood Park, Sir Winston Churchill High School and the Vancouver Academy of Music. Benjamin had a voracious appetite for knowledge. He studied Philosophy, Cognition, Brain, and Behavior at Harvard, completed a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music, and began Law School. He was a volunteer for the St. James Music Academy, music director of the Din & Tonics, conductor for the Harvard Mozart Society Orchestra, a DJ for college radio stations, a member of the Signet Society, and involved in numerous musical, theatrical, film, and academic projects.
But Benjamin was not defined by these accomplishments. Rather, it was his belief in love as “the stimulating force of goodness” that we remember him for—a love that ended and began in deep connection to his family. “We make music and sing songs and spread joy”, he wrote; “we live and breathe our family’s stories”. To Naomi, he was a treasured collaborator; to Emma, a playful debater; to Noah, an adoring advocate. He valued his parents and grandparents as his greatest champions; to them, he was a cherished companion.
Anyone who met Benjamin was aware of his sensitive and skillful music-making. In addition to his mastery of the piano—including winning numerous national competitions—he sang, conducted, played cello, composed, improvised, and, in recent years, was learning to play the oud. He took great joy in sharing music with others: whether he was performing recitals of the Bach solo cello suites for other residents at Sumac Place in Gibsons or posting albums on Bandcamp.
Benjamin will also be remembered as a sparkling and imaginative thinker. He had an insatiable curiosity and a special gift for connecting seemingly unrelated concepts and ideas. Throughout his life, he paid close attention to the world around him. He had an unparalleled ability to find beauty in the everyday and a keen eye for societal injustices. Benjamin channelled these observations into incisive musical compositions, poetry, drawing, and film.
Benjamin’s gentleness, effusive kindness, and compassion for others was unwavering. He was loving and thoughtful towards his family and friends, often sharing the little he had without a moment’s hesitation. He was willing to engage with anyone, including those most commonly ignored and overlooked by society.
Benjamin became one of these people.
In his twenties, through no fault of his or ours, he developed a brain illness complicated by anosognosia. Benjamin did not need to die as a result of this illness, but his and his family’s efforts to advocate for effective, appropriate, and compassionate treatment were unsuccessful. Some kind and knowledgeable healthcare professionals went above and beyond. Still, they were working within a broken, stigmatising medical system—in a society sorely lacking in the medical research, tools, and structures to care for him.
Benjamin felt the stigma. In a draft memoir that he had begun writing with his mother, he wrote: “[few] psychiatrist[s] I have met [have] gathered more than an ounce of who I am, as far as I can see, and more often than not projected their own depictions upon me. So if you want to know my story, you’ll have to get it from the family.”
Despite those difficulties, Benjamin was able to see the lightness in dark situations, including his own. He shared that he was dismayed that “a common view portrays [my] experiences as… an awful predicament and horrible illness, and debilitating…”. By contrast, Benjamin wrote: “I have seen and experienced realities, inner and outer realities, of wonder, of faith, of beauty and which I am excited to share.”
Our wish is that you will remember Benjamin as we do: someone who, even in the face of great challenges, remained rooted in kindness and love and grounded in his family; a beautiful mind joined with an expansive heart. In his own words, “let us grow to see family in all the people of the earth, amidst division and stupidity and folly and darkness.” … “let us open our spirits…and play our parts, actors on a global stage with ever the power to instill righteousness, thoughtfulness and sensitivity.”
In his honour, we hope you take in “more than an ounce” of someone who is overlooked or ignored, perhaps someone who, like Benjamin, struggles with a severe mental illness.
DONATIONS
In lieu of flowers, we encourage donations to the Benjamin Marks Woo Memorial Fund at the Vancouver Foundation.
American friends and family can donate directly to the Lieber Institute for Brain Development at libd.org or to the Henry Amador Center on Anosognosia at hacenter.org, in memory of Benjamin Woo.
WRITE YOUR MLA
Benjamin’s untimely and preventable death shows we badly need to change how we treat people with serious mental illness and anosognosia in British Columbia. We encourage you to reach out to your MLA or Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, requesting comprehensive wraparound support to enable community treatment and reform to the “deemed consent provision” of the Mental Health/Representative Agreement Act to ensure the right to have a trusted representative, family member, or friend help with care and treatment decisions when needed.
FUNERAL
A funeral was held on Monday, December 4, 2023, at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver. A recording of the service can be found at thecathedral.ca.
MEMORIES
We welcome memories, photographs and condolences at:
benjaminwoomemories@gmail.com
THIS WEBSITE
This was the website of Benjamin Marks Woo, which he maintained intermittently until his untimely death in 2023.
The website is now managed by his family. We are in the process of compiling and archiving more of Benjamin’s art and music, which will be more thoroughly collected and published at a later date.
29 responses to “Remembering Benjamin Marks Jia Xian Woo (1991-2023)”
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Thank you for sharing such a beautiful tribute. May Benjamin‘s legacy live on and may he inspire us all to create a better world for everyone.
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Dear Pau and Family, what a brilliant and exceptional person Benjamin was! Your lost and ours to say the least. I am grateful that you have share in these pages what a loving person he was and how our lack of medical research has failed him. So so sorry! May is spirit always be with you.
Hugs to all of you is little although little your grief.
Senator Pierrette -
Remembering wonderful wide ranging conversations in short moments when Benjamin was at Pearson in the summer or with family. And mostly remembering the amazing stories from Marg and Marks about their wonder at his navigation of this world. Sending condolences. Also echoing outrange at a system that pushes people away from caring community.
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Remembering wonderful wide ranging conversations in short moments when Benjamin was at Pearson in the summer or with family. And mostly remembering the amazing stories from Marg and Marks about their wonder at his navigation of this world. Sending condolences. Also echoing outrange at a system that pushes people away from caring community.
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Benjamin was a remarkable young man. Not only highly talented but so compassionate, this he kindly shared with all 2 and 4 legged at our farm.
Benjamin’s music and kind deeds will remain in our hearts. -
Thank you for sharing Benjamin’s many qualities and talents. Your family will forever hold him in your hearts. My deepest condolences as you grieve the loss of Benjamin.
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Dear Pau,
I offer you and your family my deepest condolences for the loss of Benjamin. I have a son named Benjamin, about the same age, I cannot imagine the suffering of loosing him.
I share your pain. The only confort you can get from the departure of Benjamin, is that he hopefully left for a more peaceful universe, one of sounds and music.
All my sympathies
Diane Bellemare
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What a lovely tribute to one who will always be remembered for so many qualities, gifts, and talents freely shared. May you be guided to peace at this time. Sending love and prayers your way.
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While I did not know Benjamin, I was struck by the very touching obit in today’s G&M. What a terrible loss for his loving family– and all of the friends he made through his exceptional accomplishments. It is certainly no consolation –but he did indeed achieve so very much in his 32 years. So sad that he was not granted more time for all that he envisioned. My deepest sympathy.
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I did not know Benjamin but I wish I did. I am heartbroken at this huge loss. May his passing be a loud awakening for change to recognize the needs and care of those struggling with mental illness of any form. His loss no no bounds and we are all poorer that he is no longer here to teach us how to love passionately. I wish for peace in your profound sadness
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All of NEC sends our sincere condolences. Please know Benjamin will be remembered by his faculty and colleagues in Boston. Sending peace and comfort to your family.
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I was so inspired by Ben when I knew him during my undergrad. He was a few years older than me and I looked up to him. I remember thinking I wish I could be like Ben one day, so curious, intelligent, so interested in art and life and ideas and people.
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I knew Ben during my undergrad. He was such an inspiration to me during that time. I remember thinking that I wanted to grow into the type of person that Ben was: so curious, so intelligent, so kind and compassionate, so interested in the world: art, people, ideas.
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As I heard Ben Woo play Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, or conduct Schubert’s Fifth Symphony in Sanders Theater at Harvard, or in talking to Ben about inequality in the world, or the purposes of art — in every situation, Ben was an extraordinary astute human, an expressive artist, conveying vibrant energy. He possessed powers of perception and a capacity to synthesize ideas into large conceptual thought beyond almost everyone on this planet. In Ben’s piano lessons at New England Conservatory, I (the “teacher”) had the hard work of trying to rise to Ben’s level. Week after week, we talked about many, many things. I was fortunate to be there. Now, I am so sad, yet I am profoundly happy to have known Ben, even if only for those fleeting moments.
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I am deeply saddened by the loss and departure of an exceptional young man.
My condolences to all of you -
Dear Trish, Pau, Naomi, Emma and Noah, our hearts go out to you all, and we offer our deepest condolences on the loss of your truly gifted and beautiful son, Benjamin. Love, The McPhail Family
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We fondly remember Benjamin playing his cello at St. Catherine’s Anglican Church, often with his sisters and brother. His masterful and sensitive musicality contributed much to Sunday worship. Our heartfelt condolences to Pau, Trish, Naomi, Emma, Noah, Marks and Margaret.
Gordon Lee & Linda Robertson
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I write with a heavy heart and my heart goes out to Tricia, Pau, Naomi, Emma, Noah and Marg & Marks! It was truly an honour being a friend of Benjamin and knowing him throughout his entire life. I still cannot believe that I had lunch and spent an afternoon with Ben and his Grandpa Marks, in the last week of Ben’s life. Who could have known?? I have many memories of stimulating conversations with Ben over the years, but the one memory I will cherish until my last days, will be of him performing as a teenager with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (after winning the Canadian National Piano Competition), Ravel’s concerto written for the left hand, with the right hand behind his back…it was 15+ minutes of non-stop, jaw-dropping brilliance!!!
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I worked with Benjamin at Sumac. I will always remember our walks, our laughs, and our spirited conversations. I will miss watching his cello receptions and the pride he took in his audience. We decided one day that I would give him ‘counseling sessions’ in exchange for guitar lessons. But usually he turned the counseling sessions into comical debates! He used to call me the ‘kindergarten teacher’ whenever I tried to get him and others organized. I miss his laugh, his smile, and the way his eyes lit up when someone he cared about walked into the room. Benjamin was misunderstood in many ways. But if he knew you cared about him, he would let his guard down. He loved his family so much, and will continue to wherever his beautiful free spirit is now. I am so sorry for your loss.
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I taught Ben at Sir Winston Churchill. I truly do not have better words than what was written in the obit – I was astonished, intrigued, delighted by all that Ben brought to our French Immersion family. All Ben’s family – so much love, artistry, humour, intelligence, drive, curiosity, generosity, wisdom, kindness. I am deeply sorry for this loss. Family, know that Ben made a huge, huge difference in the world even in the time he had. You raised such a special son/ brother. I am so sorry.
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So shocked to read Benjamin’s obituary in the Globe and Mail. What a talented young man! My deepest sympathy to all of you.
Jane Tarn, a McAvity distant cousin
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Some years back I worked with Ben in some capacity, I confess I can’t quite remember, as a mental health professional. Your beautiful tribute brings back and illumines my experience of him as a principled, sharply intelligent, tremendously sensitive and very creative soul. I appreciate the family’s palpable sadness and your tremendous love for him and share a sense of loss at his leaving this world too soon. Deepest condolences.
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My sincere condolences on the loss of your son. My wife and I lost our only son many years ago and I have some appreciation of how difficult this time must be for the family. My thoughts are with you.
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I’m sending love and support with all my heart. I am so sorry for your loss, and our loss. Ben had a beautiful, sensitive energy about it. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him, and be woven into his life.
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I met Ben briefly, about 12 years ago. He was one of a few Harvard students who hosted our a cappella group from Oxford for a few days. I remember being struck by his kindness to us and a little in awe of his brilliance. At the time I wished we could have known him more. I am profoundly sorry for your loss.
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Dear Senator Woo and family,
Please accept my deepest condolences for the loss of Benjamin, who left this earth far too early. Sending you my love at this very difficult time.
Andrew
Benjamin Marks Woo 
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