James Robert CADE

1949 - 2022

JAMES ROBERT CADE (Jim) November 14, 1949 - July 13, 2022 James "Jim" Robert Cade was a black belt in BBQ and was happiest in an apron preparing a meal for his family and friends. He returned from many vacations with a new sauce or spice or rub, and if he'd ever bothered to submit his ribs for competition, they would have shut the whole thing down. Jim was a loud and gifted storyteller, and an even better audience: a man with an infectious and encouraging laugh best described as a rumbling giggle that began mid-story and rose like a tide to the punchline. An evening with Rob and Roger and Paul left him in tears. Jim loved music, and for many years a picture of him with his French horn hung on the wall in the band room at Etobicoke Collegiate, from which he graduated in 1967. Jim embedded the Beach Boys and the Travelling Wilburys in his children's dna on summer minor league baseball road trips and winter ski trips. When his daughter Emily was young, he would often sing, "There she is, Miss America," whenever she walked into a room, and instead of playing air guitar, Jim would air conduct, as though he was standing in front of an orchestra and not listening to Free Fallin'. Jim studied history and political science at the University of Western Ontario and graduated from Osgoode Hall in 1973. He was called to the bar in 1975, and was a fancy high-priced lawyer for more than 40 years, but when he was in charge of hiring for the firm he preferred applicants who had been camp counsellors to ones with good grades. No amount of work ever kept him from missing one of Emily's swim meets or one of Matthew or Paul's high school basketball games. In his youth, Jim was an enthusiastic and daring waterskiier. He has the distinction of being the first person to return to the Quebec Pee Wee hockey tournament as a coach, having also played in it as a 12-yr-old. And he retained a fierce resistance to green vegetables long into adulthood. Jim loved his cottage, and he loved being there to see his family enjoy it. Most of all he loved his friends, his colleagues, his clients, his kids, his daughters and son-in-law, his grandkids, and his wife Catherine of nearly 50 years. He died peacefully after a long and brutal battle with cancer, but he never complained about it once. Jim wasn't one to fuss. Jim is missed deeply and survived by his wife, Catherine (nee Fulton); his sons, Matthew (Shannon Kemp), and Paul (Victoria Wappel); and daughter, Emily Reid (Samuel Reid); and his grandchildren, Nathan, Thomas, Emma, Elijah, Jordan, Hannah and Madison; as well as his many nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family, friends and colleagues. A funeral for Jim will be held at Kingsway Lambton United Church at 85 The Kingsway in Etobicoke at 1:00 pm on Thursday, July 28. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation or Dorothy Ley Hospice.