Obituary for Donald Cameron Azar

He started his career with the first gold mining company in Glace Bay, then moved to Toronto and started with the Toronto Public Works then Westeel Rosco in 1954. After many years there he followed a colleague who started up Canada Culvert for a couple of years. 

In 1984 he made the move to the beautiful West Coast. He ran the west coast office of Armco/Armtec, where he retired from at 67 years old as the Sales Manager. They weren’t ready to get rid of him at 65! His unexpected retirement project was rebuilding his cherished ‘Play Pen’ that sunk during a snow storm. And then he was hands-on building his house in Campbell River, with some help but he was in charge of every step. On the Island he enjoyed all the boating, golf and downhill skiing he could pack into a day. He even took a ride in a glider in 2013 over the Comox Valley, after Carolyn jokingly sent him a Groupon. A bucket list item that he was thrilled to do. He explored all the nooks and crannies of northern Vancouver Island. Many, many adventures were had on that boat; many fish were caught, sunsets and Orcas witnessed, and naps were taken. It’s why he moved west and never looked back.

But it was second only to his days in Ontario. The cars – the many Thunderbirds (1967 with suicide doors!), Lincolns, and the Trans Am (yes, the ‘Knight Rider’ Trans Am in his 50’s). Dad always had to have the newest and the best. The boats - his pride and joy the ‘Najla’ that he had built in his late teens, named after his Aunt. A mahogany beauty built in Nova Scotia which dad, of course, had to switch out the maximum recommended 140hp engine to a powerhouse 215hp to accommodate all the activities to come. More on that later below… Then the 'Booze Scruiser'. I swear that boat was over capacity more times than not. And always a bottle of Beefeater gin aboard. Again, many adventures enjoyed on both of those boats in the waters of both Nova Scotia (trailering the 20’ Cutter bowrider from Muskoka to Sydney for a week-long trip) and exploring everything the Trent Severn Waterway had to offer. The cottage(s) - always within sight of his oldest and dearest friend-to-the-end, John Cooper. The slalom course, the ski jump, the 2^nd ski jump, the sauna, the floods in the boat house, the sunken J Craft... always something to be worked on. Snowmobiling in the winter - walking in waist deep snow to grab a snowmobile and the sled, then coming back to the car after what seemed like an eternity in the dark, cold car to get us kids and mom, and the dog. Any time he could spend time at the cottage, he was there. He even got his pilot’s license so he could fly around in one of Cooper’s Cessnas.

He was also known for his fondness for Jack & Jill sundaes at Dairy Queen (buying the gallon cans of hot fudge and marshmallow to have at the cottage), quarter chicken dinners at Swiss Chalet (always a drip of sauce on his sweater by then second bite), Weber’s on the way home from the cottage, and Torpitt burgers late on Friday nights (IYKYK), just so we could get to the lake and a get a ski run in before dark. Jack & Jill’s were discontinued years ago, Swiss Chalet left BC in 2022, but hot fudge sundaes and a burger remained his staple until he passed.

The first home he and mom bought on Valentine Drive had a huge backyard that he would turn into a skating rink in the winter. One of dad’s claims to fame was, along with a couple of his neighbours, he played pickup hockey with a few of the Maple Leafs back in the day. One of which was the ‘infamous’ Bobby Baun. Dad would still chuckle decades later when he recalled being late to work one morning, driving down the DVP and a car was beside him honking. Dad looked over to see Bobby laughing hysterically and pointing. He had missed the previous pickup game but heard about the shiner dad got. This was just before the Leafs won the Cup.

Dad had received so many emails and stories from dear friends in the days leading up to his death, and he heard every single word.

And I will let those words speak to how everyone remembered our dad…

“I first met Don and Jackie in a most interesting way. Don kept his boat, the Najla, at marina at the narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. The next slip was a runabout owned by a friend that I knew through business. Bill and Don often took their boats on the weekends to enjoy the two big lakes. One day, I believe it was 1964, Bill said to Don that he was going up to McLean Bay to see what Cooper was up to, do you want to come along?

So on a Saturday early afternoon, the two boats arrived and I was introduced to Don and Jackie and “Stoop” (alias Suzie (- yup the one standing on the back of the boat above!)) their delightful dog. So the skiing started, and the two boats left in time to make it through the locks. And the two boats arrived the next Saturday, with a repeat of the previous Saturday. Don and Jackie met some of the local folks and saw that this was a really active area. So Don said to me, "why don’t you invite Jackie and me to stay with you? To go all the way back through the locks to our slip and then drive to Don Mills and then back the next day, is a lot of driving." So, I said why not, and Bill and his wife Karen drove back to Orillia alone. They had a farm near Orillia.

In no time, Don and Jackie met some of the local, very active folks, and were immediately included in so many events and activities, as if they had been there forever. Many years later I was still referred to as “the new kid on the block”, and Don and Jackie were treated as if they had always been there “forever”! And the rest is a wonderful and delightful history!”    - John

“in the 70"s I had the great pleasure of hanging out with your Dad and learning how to use the jump and flat kites. Don always kept us amused with his colourful stories and wit. My Dad also enjoyed sailing against Don (and Tommy G) and at all the après sailing parties held at the various cottages on Sparrow Lake.”    - Marten

“Wow, I have so many memories of your Dad! I had a special bond with him and we had a common interest in all things mechanical. "Big Dad" was also a good business mentor and he taught me about hard work but maybe his best business advice was "don't dip your pen into office ink". I heeded that advice and that kept things a lot simpler…”    - Steve

“One of my favorite stories about your dad is the time he gave us a good scare late one night when we were underage drinking at the Hale cottage down the river. We suddenly heard a loud voice coming from a sound system on a boat at the dock, announcing, "This is the police..." I immediately hid under the cottage, only to soon hear the laughter of the announcer standing on the bow of his Booze Scruiser – Mr. Azar himself.”    - Mike

“It was especially humorous to me as a teenager when Azar would be begged into the triple jump scene but it was already cocktail hour. So he had his drink glass out on the dock while he put on his skis, vest & helmet. The rope would be going out & the boat's taking off and then he puts down his drink, just as the boat left the dock.... funny guy.”    - Dave

“…endless highlights and events over the years, with your dad, including the 1967 World Water Ski tournament where Lloyd Gilbert had asked us to volunteer, as they required those who understood sufficiently about jumps and slalom courses to be contributors.

For world records to be authentic, the courses had to be validated and certified by a P/ENG. As well as your father being a graduate Civil Engineer, he was, and still is, a Professional Engineer. When that was discovered, he worked his way around the entire course with a surveyor’s transit, for hours on end, to validate, and sign off, that all the courses were laid out perfectly.

Don J. was there on behalf of Mercury to ensure that all boats and motors for the tournament were running perfectly.

It was there that we first met George A. who was 15, and Willie H., as he came from Barbados because of his keen interest in water skiing. The entertainment for the tournament was the hottest group anywhere at the time, called the Merrymen, from Barbados.

The first week was the Canadian championships, that resulted in the selection of the Canadian team for the world’s championships, in week 2. We were all lodged at the University of Sherbrooke dorms.

Don and I had the best seats available, as we drove the pickup boats used for safety purposes to pick up any fallen skiers. We had a Royal life saving qualified lifeguard sitting in the front of the Boston Whalers that we were driving. We started very early each day to fit in every event. One cold morning a jumper from Mexico took a bad spill. Don quickly had his boat right where the skier had fallen, and he was struggling from being out of breath from his fall. The lifeguard was looking at the skier but was reluctant to go in (the water) as it was cold. Don put his foot on the lifeguard’s butt, and pushed him over the edge, where he should have been, much to the amusement of all the onlookers!    - John

“my most vivid and most-often told story is when we decided to see how many skiers we could pull behind Don’s beloved Najla.  We gathered together 21 skiers, 21 sets of skis (‘thank you’ brother John), 21 ski jackets and 21 ropes of different lengths.  After much to-do and much hooting and hollering, we successfully started off from John’s dock on a staggered take-off…one, by one, by one, by one (you get the idea – 21 times). 

 Jackie was at the helm and pulled us up the river, with 21 skiers doing wild criss-crosses the entire way.  While making the big wide turn up the river to return to the dock, one skier (I forget whom) fell in the middle of the channel.  There was nothing to do but to go back to pick him up.   Pulling 21 skiers out on a deep-water start was no problem for the mighty Najla …but it was too much for the tow hitch, which was bolted to the keel.  The bolts ripped out of the keel and the solid steel hitch dragged down Najla’s long, sleek, beautifully varnished mahogany stern…and we all sank back into the channel.

 With Najla’s tiny 4-passenger cockpit, already occupied by Jackie and our obligatory ski watcher, Jackie could ferry only two skiers at a time back to the dock, while the others floated aimlessly in the middle of the channel, trying desperately to not get run over by the weekend boat ‘traffic’.   It took 10 trips back and forth to get all of us back to the dock and it took much sanding and many coats of varnish to restore Najla’s mirror-like finish.  But restored she was.”    - Donald C.

“Toodie” (he had no idea how this childhood nickname came to be), “Don”, “Azar”, “Big Dad”. And of course, just “dad”. He was known by a few names and loved by so many. We thank everyone who contributed to and was a part of Dad’s life. You all made him who he was and why he lived such a full, long, and happy life. And he’s got a lot of people waiting for him on the other side! Mom, Willie, Eldon, Bill, George, his parents....and a few of our dogs.

There will be no formal service or funeral. Dad will cremated and then retrace his journey back east, escorted by his daughters. First, back to Toronto in June, where he has his youngest daughter’s wedding to attend, then up North for a gathering of his closest friends at the lake for the goodbyes, and then to Nova Scotia for burial with his parents at Hardwood Hill Cemetery in Sydney.

Take a run through the course for him, have a DQ sundae in his honor, or raise a Beefeater and OJ to toast all the good times.

As dad would say when he ended a phone call… “good ‘nuff”.

We love you more, dad, and will miss you forever. Give mom a big hug for us.   your kids