Loyalist colleagues, friends pay tribute to Gord Wright

By Morgan Davy

BELLEVILLE – More than 100 friends and colleagues of Gordon Wright gathered at Loyalist College Tuesday afternoon to remember him.

Wright, who was president of Local 421 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, representing support staff at Loyalist, died suddenly last week.

College president Maureen Piercy welcomed the crowd and noted that Wright began working at Loyalist the same day she did, more than 18 years ago.

Bernie Belanger, the president of OPSEU Local 420 at Loyalist, representing academic staff, worked with Wright for 16 years and was the first speak.

“It’s hard to capture the totality of a man’s life in just 2½ minutes,” Belanger said, but he told several stories about his time with Wright and joked about their longstanding disagreement over which hockey team was the best.

Other staff members from Loyalist took turns sharing their fondest memories of Wright. Jennifer Rosborough, a systems analyst, Mike Seeger, the director of financial services, and Tony Orrick, a support-staff representative on the college’s board of governors, brought both laughter and tears to the crowd.

“We’ve lost more than just a colleague,” Rosborough said. “We’ve lost a friend, a mentor, a leader and a family member.”