Obituaries (December 24, 2007)

Alfred Powis

Alfred Powis, “Mr. Noranda” to a generation in the Canadian mining industry, has died in Toronto after a long illness. He was 77.

Powis, a commerce graduate from McGill University, once said he had “staggered into the mining industry by accident.” Starting with that Montreal institution, Sun Life Assurance Co., as an investment analyst, he was recruited for Noranda by John Bradfield, who would soon become president of the company. Working under Bradfield, Powis piloted a number of major acquisitions for Noranda, including control of Mattagami Lake Mines and Brunswick Mining and Smelting. He became Noranda’s president in 1968.

During his tenure, Noranda diversified into forest products, aluminum, and natural gas industries, as well as its main non-ferrous metals business.

From 1979 through to 1982, he fought a rearguard action against Brascan, which had amassed a 20% shareholding in Noranda. Brascan, though it ultimately gained seats on the Noranda board, was impressed enough by the incumbent management — including Powis and vice-presidents William James and Adam Zimmerman — that it kept the senior executives in place during a steady takeover of the company.

Powis was a president of the Mining Association of Canada and a founder of the Business Council on National Issues. He was an adviser to the Canadian negotiating team in the 1984 free trade agreement with the United States, and was an Officer of the Order of Canada.

He leaves his wife Louise, ex-wife Shirley, two sons and a daughter and six grandchildren.

Arthur Foley

Art Foley, a former manager of the Lamaque and Niobec mines, has died at the age of 94.

Foley was born in Massachusetts, but moved during his childhood to Sherbrooke, Que. He attended St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. On graduating, he left to play hockey in Val d’Or, taking a day job at the Lamaque mine.

In 1942, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was commissioned from the ranks in 1943 to serve as a navigator-instructor in Canada, stationed at St-Jean, Que., and Trenton, Ont. On his discharge in 1945, he returned to Lamaque and was moved into mine management.

He was manager at the Lamaque gold mine from 1960 to 1978, and also ran the construction of the Niobec niobium mine for Teck.

Foley was active locally in Val d’Or, in service clubs and in the parish of St. Joseph in Bourlamaque. He served as a director of the Quebec Metal Mining Association and was its president in 1963.

He and his wife Irene, who predeceased him in 2000, had no surviving children. He is survived by two brothers-in-law and a sister-in-law, and four nieces and nephews.

Paul “Jethro” Gertzbein

Paul “Jethro” Gertzbein, prospector and geologist, died suddenly on Nov. 17, 2007. He was 49.

Gertzbein, senior mine geologist at the David Bell gold mine, in northern Ontario, was an avid gem and mineral collector and was well on his way to becoming a gemmologist.

In his 30 years in the industry, Gertzbein held posts with Gulf Minerals, McIsaac Exploration, Placer Dome, Inco, Harmony Gold, Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

In addition to the broad spectrum of companies he worked for, Gertzbein also worked at various project throughout Canada in both the exploration and feasibility stages.

His career also offered him the chance to visit remote areas throughout the world, a perk his wife said he enjoyed. Gertzbein is survived by his mother Rose, sisters Ceri and Louise, brother Carl and wife Jurate.

William “Willie” Laserich

Bush pilot William (“Willie”) Laserich, founder of Adlair Aviation, has died. He was 75.

Born in Germany, Laserich immigrated to Canada in 1952 as a young machinist, settling in Halifax, N.S., and working in the shipbuilding industry. He worked his way to Hay River, N.W.T., as a ship mechanic, and signed on with local air charter operators to work as an aircraft mechanic.

Obtaining his pilot’s licence in 1956, he flew for airlines throughout the upper Mackenzie Valley and the western Arctic, then founded Adlair in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. He abandoned his logbook at 44,000 hours.

He is survived by his wife Margaret Rose, two sons, two daughters, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and by eight brothers and sisters, all of them in Germany.

Marie Toms

Marie Toms, the widow of well-known prospector Ross Toms, has died.

During her 58-year marriage to Ross Toms, described in The Northern Miner as “the uncrowned King of the Northern paradise of steel,” she was active in her own right in the mining industry. The Women’s Association of the Mining Industry of Canada honoured Marie with lifetime membership in recognition of her 40 years of affiliation.

For 42 years, Ross and Marie were residents of Port Cunnington, Lake of Bays, in Ontario, where their hospitality was legendary. A memorial tea was held in memory of Marie in Oakville on Oct. 18, followed by a celebration of her life on Oct. 21, in Huntsville, Ont. She leaves behind two daughters, five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.