Rest in peace Dr. Toni Bark, MD.
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the death of a fellow colleague, friend, and someone who I was fortunate enough to share the stage with on many occasions. Toni was an inspiration and a bright shining light to so many.
Her countless accomplishments are too numerous to name.
I’ve written memorials for dozens of holistic doctors who have died of an illness as she did, and for many more who didn’t die naturally, but this one leaves me at for a loss for words as it’s so painful.
As I reflect back on correspondence with Dr. Bark, both through emails and in person, there is one email in particular that stands out in my mind. I had been defending her after she was mocked and ridiculed by an online MD named Zdogg. He claimed she wasn’t a medical doctor, and she was, and she ran circles around him. She told me, without hesitation, that she wasn’t even going to look at the videos he had posted, or anything he had written. She said she was just going to ignore the hate.
What great advice.
Toni truly was larger than life. I was always nervous to say too much when I was around her in person because of the apparent girl crush I had, as I looked up to this woman so much.
I have never seen anybody debate so fiercely and as beautifully as she did, winning all of them not only because of her knowledge but because of her passion and inherent belief in doing the right thing.
My heart goes out to her friends and family, and particularly to her loving son Ayal, who took such good care of his treasured mother every step of the way.
Later, I will find some pictures of us together. But right now I am too heartbroken, as I’m sure the entire holistic community is.
Here are the details of her funeral arrangements, which I am sure will be overflowing with loved ones whose lives she touched. In lieu of flowers, the family has given a link if you would like to donate to the Toni Bark Memorial Foundation.
Dr. Bark lived such a healthy and full life right there in Evanston, Illinois, the very town in which I was born, and was also a fellow Chicagoan. Dr. Mercola, my better half of eleven years and also a Chicagoan, and I will miss her so.
Dr. Bark’s son Ayal plans to open a center in Evanston in the house where she lived. Again, I was born at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and lived at the Cradle Society for several months until I was healthy enough to be adopted. Ayal wrote the following message:
Although her time in physical form has come to an end, my mom’s spirit will forever continue to live on. But for a soul as bright as Toni’s, it’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. How can we bring light back into the darkness that her absence will surely leave?
As she was getting her affairs in order, the topic of what to do with the house came up. For those of you who don’t know, we’ve always viewed the house as “Toni in house form”. It was designed for and by her, she used the space to it’s fullest capacities, and as such it has been forever imbued with her spirit.
After long discussions on what to do with the space, we have decided to transform it into a center for art, health, and education. The specifics have yet to be ironed out, but our vision is to offer daily classes to the local community. These classes will include African dance, yoga, cold water immersion, healthy cooking, pottery, meditation, coding, gardening,…the list goes on and on.
Toni always said that the secret to staying young and enjoying life to the fullest is to learn new things, and we hope to provide a space for the community to do that in a way that honors Toni’s values, hobbies, interests, and guiding principles. We also plan to host charitable events every so often to raise funds for local Evanston and Chicagoland nonprofits doing work that Toni would have supported.
The tentative name so far is the Toni Bark Memorial Foundation. I can’t think of a better way for myself, my family, Toni’s friends, and our community to band together and honor my Mom’s unrelenting dedication to spreading love, knowledge, and being a positive force in the world.
All contributions you give here will go directly to creating the Toni Bark Memorial Foundation. We will need to hire nonprofit attorneys, pay state and federal incorporation fees, hire a manager, create a curriculum, and begin renovation to the space so that it can be a proper vehicle for our vision.
With love,
-AyalP.S. Please disregard the listed goal amount. The website required me to put in an amount, and $15,000 was the default. Regardless of the final amount we reach, we will be forever grateful of your support in honoring Toni’s memory and keeping her values alive.
Fly with the Angels. You have wings now and you will be missed by so so many.
