Alexander ROBERTSON

ROBERTSON, Alexander (Alec) Charles
September 10, 1932 - April 30, 2014
Alec died peacefully in New Westminster's Royal Columbian Hospital, surrounded by his loving family. He grew up in Victoria, B.C. spending summers fishing on his father's trawler off the west coast of BC. He graduated from Victoria High School in 1949. He met the love of his life Barbara (predeceased 2010) while they were both attending UBC, and they married in 1955 and lived joyfully together along the way producing two sons, Chris and Eric. While at UBC Alec received a Bachelor of Commerce degree (in 1955) and Law degree (in 1957). He obtained a Masters of Law degree at Harvard in 1958 and was called to the BC Bar in 1959. Alec started his own law firm, Robertson and Liddle, with his law school classmate, Keith Liddle. He became corporate counsel to Macmillan Bloedel in 1966, and joined Davis and Company in 1971. He practiced with Davis and Company for 20 years before being appointed Chief Commissioner to the B.C. Treaty Commission. After returning to Davis in 1998, he provided general counsel and guidance on conflict matters until his retirement in 2012. Alec also had a distinguished record of service to the legal profession and the public, having served as an advisor to Greenpeace in its early days, President of the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), Chair of the Law Foundation of British Columbia, and a member of the Canadian Bar Association's National Task Force on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession and a co-author of its report "Touchstones for Change." In 1987 he was the first recipient of the George Goyer Award, to recognize his exceptional contribution to the legal profession in BC. Alec was physically active and enjoyed alpine skiing, hiking, camping, scuba diving and travelling. He was a loving husband and father, and was a paternal figure to many of his sons' generation, who respected and responded to his wisdom, generosity, and principled compassion for others. Alec was known for his caring spirit and keen and witty mind. Having Alec's friendship was a joyful and rewarding experience, and friends from his early days in high school and university, together with the ever widening circle of friends he made throughout his life, continued to enjoy and value his friendship to his final days. Alec dealt with the effects of Pulmonary Fibrosis with remarkable grace, demonstrating a profound gratitude for his rich, full life even as the disease progressed. Alec is survived by his sons Chris and Eric; grandchildren Amun (Alex), Nairn and Nicola; his sisters Susan Burke and Sara Harman; his daughter-in-law Gabriela; and many nieces and nephews. His family and friends will host a celebration of his life at a date to be announced in the near future. Alec's wishes were that in lieu of a memorial service and flowers, memorial donations be made to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation, Family Support Program.
We have lost a wonderful man, but his memory will live on within us.