Anca Mihaela Gabreanu

Anca-Mihaela Gabreanu, age 58, passed away January 5th, due to a cruel disease (ALS) and complications caused by COVID infection. She was born on October 1st, 1964 in Brasov (Romania), to Nicolae Gabreanu, and Iolanda Mihailescu. Anca is survived by her brothers Nicolae and Constantin; her husband Liviu and her son Serban. All of whom she loved and touched deeply.

Anca excelled in school and graduated from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova in 1991, then went on to pursue her career as an MD. She worked as an intern in the cardiology department at the municipal hospital Brasov – time which she described as the most satisfying of her whole career.

A few years later she started working as a Research Scientist at the Victor Babes Institute in Bucharest, where she met Liviu, who became her husband (officially married on July 4th 1996). They were together until the time of her untimely death, for 26 years.

In 2005, Anca and her family (husband and son) emigrated in Canada, and three years later they became Canadian citizens.

Anca had a very active life. She practiced figure skating, ballet and liked going for long walks. During childhood she spent a lot of time drawing (inanimate objects, but also faces and bodies of various people, real or imaginary). She loved singing, and enlisted for singing in the medical school choir, where she was assigned as soprano 1. This hobby suited her well as she loved singing and travelling. With the choir she visited the most important cities in Romania, and in 1989, she went by train to Leipzig, to sing in the Neue Gewandhaus. This happened during the last months of the communist regime, when the travel abroad was severely restricted. Anca loved to explore the world; she visited Turkey, Greece, the United States, along with many places in Canada, including British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and many parts of Ontario.

She enjoyed classical music, opera, ballet, and tennis and was active on social media sites, where she frequently contributed to subjects she liked. She liked to listen to many kinds of music, especially classical; her favorite composer was Mozart. When she was young, she wanted to learn the piano and was able to teach herself using a friend’s piano. Similarly, most of the figure skating she learned was by practicing on her own and trying to learn by watching figure skaters on television.

She was a fervent admirer of the famous gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who was awarded the first perfect 10 during the Montreal Olympics.

She liked to cook, as she had real culinary talents and was very resourceful. She wrote a small cookbook with recipes (mostly inherited from her mother) comprising of traditional (Romanian) food, and also cookies, bread, lasagna and real fried chicken, to name a few.

Anca loved to learn, particularly new languages like English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. She also was well versed in the sciences, especially chemistry. She loved to share her knowledge with others; during her first years in Canada, she took a teaching position for a year at a private college where she taught medical terminology to students who were there to become medical receptionists or transcriptionists.

Anca was known for her quick-witted humor, fierce determination, and generous spirit. Her family loves her very much and will always miss her.

The funeral service will be held Tuesday, January 10th, at St. John's Dixie located at 737 Dundas St E, in Mississauga, in the sandalwood chapel. The start time is 12:30 pm. After 30 minutes observation, the funeral procession will continue to the Sanctuary Park Cemetery, located at 1570 Royal York Rd., Etobicoke, ON M9P 3C3