George CLEMENTS

GEORGE CLEMENTS George was born on May 20, 1931, at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. He was evacuated during the war, graduated from the London School of Economics, worked at the Home Office, and met Pamela Cullen, the love of his life, at a Masonic Temple Dance. George and his brother, Tommy, immigrated to Toronto in 1954, and Pam followed shortly thereafter. They returned to England in 1960 and were married on New Year's Eve 1960 in West Chiltington, Sussex. Their only son, Simon, arrived in 1963 and they settled into life in Toronto. George spent his entire career in advertising at Young & Rubican and J. Walter Thompson and loved every minute of it. In 1982, George and Pam moved with JWT to Sydney Australia where George worked on international ad campaigns and ran training programmes for JWT throughout South East Asia as Director of Development Asia Pacific. George was an accomplished teacher and public speaker and travelled the world with his deck of slides speaking about market research and branding. He returned to Toronto as JWT's International Vice President and Director of Strategic Planning and Research. In 1990, George and Pam moved to Port Hope where George devoted his skills and energy to the development of the Port Hope Jazz Festival and Small Town Radio, and to historical preservation with the ACO and St. Mark's Heritage Foundation. George cared for Pam through a long illness and, under her watchful eye became the consummate home cook and party host. Pam died too early in 2008, but George carried on undaunted. He had a zest for life and is remembered most fondly by his friends in Port Hope and in Stuart Florida for the many parties, awards banquets, special events and fundraisers he threw as social convener and master of ceremonies. There was not a wig or silly hat that George wouldn't put on for a good cause. The tragedy of George's life as a communicator is that a stroke and dementia finally robbed him of his speech. Over the last 10 years, George and Simon lived life to the fullest: opera in Vienna; ballet in St. Petersburg; winetasting in Sicily; palaces and port in Portugal. Father, mentor and best friend to Simon, a life's work is now complete. George died on March 27, 2022, after a fall. Many thanks to the kind people at Palisade Gardens in Cobourg and the staff at Northumberland Hills Hospital who cared for George over the last few months. George will be interred in St. Mark's Cemetery next to Pam. A celebration of George's life will be held at a later date because, in death as in life, he would love to say, 'I've been to a marvellous party". If you wish, a donation to the St. Mark's Heritage Foundation, Port Hope would honour George's memory and may be received at www.rossfuneralchapel.com.