Timothy Garrard

Tim was born in Ottawa to Reginald (Rex) and Margaret (née Creighton) Garrard but spent his childhood growing up in the Mount Royal neighbourhood of Montreal. He was an enthusiastic curler from an early age, twice making the finals of the Quebec junior curling championships, and played the tuba in his school band. As a young man, Tim was encouraged to pursue a future in science and went on to earn two degrees in organic chemistry at Queen's. Some years into his PhD work, he realized lab work wasn't his passion. Luckily, he had many talents and received high marks in Shakespearean English, which allowed him to be accepted into a Masters of Public Administration.

He flourished over the course of his extended education in Kingston, taking part in many aspects of student life, including student radio, where he developed a lifelong love of opera, and student politics, where he was elected as a student senator and earned the Tricolour Award. Other passions included motorcycles and the mass breeding of gerbils. He lived for many years at the Science 44 student co-operative house on William Street, where he met many long-time friends and Nancy Hoey, whom he married in 1972.

Moving to Ottawa in the early 1970s, Tim rose quickly through the ranks of the Public Service, working as a Parliamentary Intern, at the Department of Finance, at the Ministry of State for Economic Development and the Department of Industry before being selected to attend the ⁠Executive Business Education Program at Harvard and settling into a long career as a senior executive at the Department of Industry. He specialized in aerospace and defence policy, spending significant time travelling and developing a lifelong interest in planes and space. Along the way, he took the family to Canberra on an exchange with the Australian government and was, at one point, asked to head up the Government of Canada's Y2K preparedness efforts. He retired as Chief Information Officer at Industry Canada.

But his real enduring passion was spending time with his family at Grand Lake, where he and Nancy bought a cottage during a rainy week in 1980. Never one to hire someone to do work that he could do himself, Tim spent countless hours on various construction projects, deploying his three sons as labourers and sounding boards. After a big meal, he liked to say that the dishes could wait until morning, and he would sit down on the porch to smoke a pipe, play cards, and tell stories. In the winter, he would pile the boys and their friends into a minivan and take them skiing. The rules were simple: you needed to be on the hill before the chairlift opened, and you skied fast, with no complaints about the cold. For food, it was peanut butter and jam sandwiches, sometimes with dreadful Cheez Whiz added by chef Tim, along with unlimited chips and cola purchased at the dépanneur on the way back to watch the Brier.

At his core, Tim was a maverick and something of a hermit: a big man with a curmudgeonly streak who was, deep down, a real softie. He was a voracious reader of history, news, and science, and though he was shy, he loved to debate, taking whichever side of an argument suited him in the moment, often with a twinkle in his eye. He had a mischievous sense of humour and would deliver deadpan jokes to amuse and test new visitors. Always a bit of a contradiction, Tim wore shirts with holes in them, despised pretension, and pulled for the underdog, yet relished conversations about geopolitics and theoretical physics. He rarely bought things for himself but was generous to others. He could intimidate with his size and intellect, yet would obsess over the physical and emotional wellbeing of his pets, especially his cat Billie.

Tim died peacefully after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Nancy, his sons David (Jeannie), Michael (Kate) and Jack (Suzie), and his three grandchildren, Oliver, Maya and Sophie. 

A celebration of life will be held at 11 am on September 19th at the Tubman Funeral Home at 403 Richmond Road in Ottawa. 

Donations to your local Food Bank or to a charity of your choice would be appreciated.