In Memory, G. Douglas Smith 1937-2005.

I want to introduce a big influence in my life to you, my dad George Douglas Smith. He never liked George preferring to go by Doug and he was what I would term one of the quiet smart men in the room.



Dad was by training a chartered accountant but wound up in the investment field managing pension fund money first with Sun Life then with Canadian Pacific Limited. He was a Vice President, Portfolio Manager of Canadian Equities. Put simple dad looked after a big pool of money (roughly a billion dollars) for a defined benefit pension plan.

Dad was one of the wise old men of pension fund management and did not suffer fools gladly. I remember hearing second hand Stock Brokerages would send rookie analysts to pitch dad. If they survived the meeting, they would have a career. Dad also generated a lot of loyalty from the investment community because he was an honest man and not a afraid to speak his mind if the need arose.

I think my first memory of dad was him taking me up for walks in Summit Park in Montreal’s Westmount neighbourhood. When my brother Alex came along he had the delicate task of giving us equal attention. Dad got Alex and I interested in skiing first in the Laurentians north of Montreal and later at the Caledon Ski Club when the family moved to Ontario in 1980.




One of my favourite memories was skiing with dad on the weekends which we did up until early January 2005 when his health went south. Dad had a very sharp and dry sense of humour and lived by the philosophy of, “Laugh at life or life is going to laugh at you.”

When not managing other people’s pension money Dad dabbled in photography but became passionate about making replica antique furniture in Upper Canada, Quebequois and Americana styles with period tools. Yes, he cut the dovetail mortise joints by hand; dad was a stickler for authenticity.

I still remember the last few weeks like it was five minutes ago, Alex took it a lot rougher initially, I was much closer to the situation and was pretty much numb. He followed dad’s footsteps in becoming a CA too and they talked a lot about particular companies and investments. In a way Alex is a lot more like dad than I am.

The weekend dad divided up his camera gear to Alex and me because we both developed a strong passion for photography, it was a rough one. Dad probably regretted not giving us his Leicas and Nikons sooner so he could see enjoying them.
We both thought maybe, just maybe the doctors could buy him some extra time. Alas that was not to be.

Dad passed on five years ago from cancer 8:30 pm March 23, 2005 at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital with his immediate family by his side.

I think it took me a while to realize that I inherited a lot of qualities from dad too, his strong sense of honesty, integrity, work ethic, being passionate in what you do, never giving up your dignity and oh yes, laughing at life.

One thing I could never bring myself to do is take his ski poles from the family locker up that the Caledon Ski Club. The PR certificate program I started in May 2005 took my mind off his death to an extent but seeing his poles up there the following winter made me wonder if dad was already out on the slopes wondering why I was taking so long.

So the ski poles stay up at the hill.