OSLER, Gordon Peter Osler
1922 - 2012

Passed away peacefully on August 6, 2012, surrounded by his family, at the Dunfield Retirement Residence in Toronto.

Gordon is survived by Nancy (Riley) Osler, his loving wife of 64 years, and his three children, Sanford (Betty Ann), Sue (Biff Matthews), and Gill, and his grandchildren, Matthew and Lynn Osler, Graham, Shannon and Trevor Matthews, and Madelaine and Nicholas Fortier.

Gordon was born in Winnipeg, the son of the late Hugh F. and Kathleen (Harty) Osler. He attended Ravenscourt School and Queen's University before joining the Canadian Army in 1942. He was later commissioned as a Lieutenant, and served overseas in the 12th Manitoba Dragoons.

After the war, he joined, and later headed, the firm Osler Hammond and Nanton in Winnipeg. Throughout his life, Gordon had a great interest in business and finance, and was involved in the formative years of a number of companies that later became major corporations. Following the sale of Osler Hammond and Nanton, he moved to Toronto and became President of UNAS Investments Limited. During his business career he served as a director of the Dominion Bank, and later the Toronto Dominion Bank, for a total of 40 years, Household International (Chicago), Maclean-Hunter, and IPSCO. He was a Founder and Director of Inter-City Gas and President of the Greater Winnipeg Gas Company. He served as Chairman of TransCanada Pipelines, North American Life, and Slater Steel, and as Vice Chair of British Steel Canada.

Gordon was a true gentleman in the best sense of the word. He treated everyone he encountered with dignity and respect. He always dressed with a great sense of style, and he had a wonderful, quiet sense of humour. His enthusiasms included musicals as well as ballet and classical music. In his earlier years, he loved summers at Lake of the Woods, and enjoyed sailing, skiing, riding and latterly golf. He lived a full and happy life. His self-published memoir, written in 1998, was appropriately entitled ''A Walk on the Bright Side''.

A memorial service to celebrate Gordon's life will be held at Grace Church on-the-Hill at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5.