NHL club Toronto announces on X that Mark Kirton has passed away after a longer period of battling the nerve disease ALS. He became 67 years old.
Kirton was diagnosed with ALS in 2018. He has told Toronto Sun that he supported Börje Salming and his family when the Swede received the diagnosis in the summer of 2022. Börje Salming passed away in November 2022 and became 71 years old.
After receiving his diagnosis, the Canadian worked to increase awareness of the disease and, together with NHL clubs, collected money for research.
I hope that all this work we do in the sports world continues after we who are affected today are gone, said Kirton to Expressen in 2022.
Kirton belonged to Toronto's organization for three seasons (1978–1981), but it only became 13 NHL matches for the Canadian top club where Salming is a legend after his 16 seasons.
Kirton was recruited during the 1980–1981 season to Detroit and also played for Vancouver during his NHL career.
