Honouring Through Giving Back

Alum names an operatory for a classmate and close friend

When Murray Deller 7T8 sat down in his first U of T Dentistry class, little did he know that his seatmate, Rick Denney 7T8, would become much more than a peer.

“Rick and I quickly became good friends, and eventually, like family,” says Murray. “We sat in alpha order in seats 29 and 30 — Deller and Denney — side by side, all through our four years. We were always paired up for assignments and practise procedures. Over the years, our friendship grew stronger, well beyond the years of dental school. My kids called him ‘Uncle Rick.’”

Rick passed away in November 2023. Murray and his wife, Marjan, wanted a way to honour him, and so they are naming an operatory for Rick in the Faculty’s future Clinic 2. The Clinic 2 renovation planning is underway and should be ready for occupancy in 2028.

The Dellers have been giving to the Faculty for nearly 35 years. In 1990, they started with a first gift of $100. With the passing of Rick, they wanted to do more, so looked to make this generous $50,000 gift in his name.

“I’ve always supported the Faculty – dentistry has been good to me and allowed me to have a very nice lifestyle, so I think it’s important to give back,” Murray says. “I had seen an article in a recent U of T Dentistry magazine about naming an operatory. Rick had left some money to us in his will and we thought that was a good way to use it. He’d be overjoyed seeing our names together in the space.” Marjan agrees. “We decided to honour Rick after he died since he has been in our family since dental school,” she says.

Murray adds that because his own daughter went through dental school more recently, the family is familiar with the considerable costs involved.

“I know how important it is to help support students, and part of this is ensuring their learning facilities have the necessary funding to be maintained,” he says.

Murray says that although dental school can be gruelling, he hopes others consider the impact of their gifts for the Faculty, including the opportunity to name one of the 75 operatories planned for the renovated Clinic 2.

“Some people left dental school and never looked back,” he says. “But I hope as they reflect, they can say that although it was tough, it was also a good time with excellent education, and we became much more successful and better people for it.”

When Murray thinks of his own time as a U of T Dentistry student, some highlights come to mind, including meeting Marjan, his wife of 45 years, who was a patient at the Faculty’s teaching clinic.

“I left dental school with my future wife and a best friend,” he says. “That’s pretty special.”

Photo: Marjan and Murray Deller with a photo of Rick Denney (Jeff Comber)

Interested in more stories? Read the PDF edition of the U of T Dentistry Magazine Summer/Fall 2024 Issue