August 23, 1988 – May 7, 2026

It is with profound grief and sadness that we announce the sudden and unexpected passing of our dear, sweet, beloved son Alex Chalmers. Alex passed peacefully in his apartment in Oshawa on May 7, 2026. He was 37 years of age, and he was so very loved.

Alex was born at North York General Hospital and was raised in Oshawa, ON, a city he never left and never needed to, because he built a life there rich with music, laughter, food, family, and friendship. He is survived by his parents John Chalmers and Heather McMillan (step-father Jason Lemay), his brother and best friend Andrew Chalmers, and his step-sister Jaylin Lemay. He will be painfully, endlessly missed by every single one of them.

He was a graduate of Eastdale CVI and Durham College (Accounting), and had worked in the restaurant industry since the age of 14, primarily as a cook. What Alex brought to every job he ever held wasn't just skill, it was an almost stubborn dedication, a quiet pride in doing things right. He was the kind of person who showed up, every time, without complaint. Whatever he set his mind to, he made happen. He was sharper than he let on, and more capable than most people ever fully realized, and the people closest to him knew it.

Music was in Alex's bones. From a young age it was clear he possessed a gift that went beyond enthusiasm, he was truly and remarkably talented. He was recognized with multiple awards throughout high school and was a proud member of the Durham Youth Symphony Orchestra. His taste was wonderfully his own: black metal and orchestral compositions lived comfortably side by side in his world, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He cherished his annual visits to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with his mom, a tradition that meant more than words, and threw himself into metal shows and concerts with his dad and brother with the kind of pure, unguarded joy that most people stop letting themselves feel after childhood. Alex never stopped.

As a boy and a teenager, Alex loved soccer with that same wholehearted intensity. He found his team in AFC Ajax of Amsterdam and followed them with the fierce, unwavering loyalty of a true supporter, the kind that doesn't waver when it's inconvenient.

Baking was Alex's love language. He was a talented cook by any measure, but when he baked, something else came through entirely, a generosity, a desire to make the people around him happy through the work of his own hands. His chocolate chip cookies and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes were, without exaggeration, the best anyone had ever tasted. His candies, his ice cream, his countless creations, all of them five stars, all of them made with care. To receive something Alex baked was to know, without question, that he was thinking of you. Gaming, too, was a world he inhabited fully, immersive, strategic, consuming in the best way. It was another space where his quick mind could stretch and wander.

Alex loved animals the way only the truly good-hearted do, completely and without reservation. Cats, especially, seemed to find their way to him, and he to them. He shared a bond over the years with cats who knew, the way cats always do, that they were safe with him. Ozzy and Ernie held a particularly special place in his heart. They say animals can sense a kind soul. Alex was exactly that.

He was outgoing and open-minded, quick to laugh and even quicker to listen. His sense of humour was sharp and his laugh, that laugh, was the kind that filled a room and made everyone in it feel a little lighter. He could strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and within minutes be talking about the things he loved most in the world, with the kind of unself-conscious passion that made you want to lean in closer. He would give you the shirt off his back without a second thought. He was thoughtful, and kind, and decent, and good, a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. There are not enough adjectives, in any language, to capture what a genuinely wonderful human being Alex Chalmers was. Some people make the world warmer simply by being in it. He was one of those people.

Alex will be deeply missed by his parents, his brother, his aunts and uncles (Anne Chalmers/Steve Monaco and Chris McMillan/Sara McMillan), his grandparents (John Chalmers and the late Maureen Chalmers, Joan McMillan and the late Wayne McMillan), his cousins (Jonathan, Jennifer, Michael, Brittney, and Abigayle), many cherished extended family members, friends, colleagues, and his brothers from other mothers, Kyle, Chris, and Jessie, to name just a few of the many whose lives he quietly made better simply by being part of them.

There will not be a formal funeral service. The family will hold a Celebration of Life, with the date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to MusiCounts, an organization committed to keeping music alive in the lives of young people. It is a cause that Alex, in everything he was, embodied every single day.

You are loved, our sweet boy. Until we meet again, rest in peace.