Last month, the Georgian Bay Land Trust marked the end of an era with the passing of our founder, Wally King.

Wally was a tremendous force on Georgian Bay. A financial professional by trade, Wally was a people person who thrived on connecting his networks and making things happen. Much of his passion and energies were directed towards his cottage in Sans Souci and the Georgian Bay community.

Many of Georgian Bay’s current organizations and institutions were shaped by Wally’s vision and work. He served as President of both the Sans Souci & Copperhead Association and the Georgian Bay Association, and was instrumental in the founding of the Township of the Archipelago. In 1991, he became concerned that Georgian Bay’s natural places needed protection, and organized a small group of volunteers to found the Georgian Bay Land Trust.

For its first decade of life, the Land Trust was a fledgling organization propelled forward by the optimism and perseverance of volunteers, Wally chief among them. He mustered his networks to enlist the help of fellow professionals and Georgian Bay enthusiasts. These volunteers worked together to secure our initial property donations, form partnerships within the growing land trust community, lobby for laws to strengthen conservation, and establish stewardship funds which would make our work secure. By the time our first full-time staff member was hired in 2003, Wally and his team were able to hand over a well-respected and established organization.

Even after he stepped back from a leadership role, Wally remained keenly interested in the operations and success of the Land Trust. He was a regular presence at events and meetings, ready to offer advice and encouragement, and his love of history and knack for storytelling ensured that we never forgot our roots. Together with his wife Marilyn, Wally established the Land Trust’s King Family Fund, which annually awards a bursary to support projects that enrich the Georgian Bay community (see below). In any given year, we received more donations from Wally and Marilyn than from anyone else, because of Wally’s habit of making contributions in honour of friends and family members, and in memory of many Georgian Bay community members who had passed on. It is now our turn to remember him, and we send our condolences to Marilyn, their children Martha, Elizabeth, and Graham, and everyone else who is mourning.

The Georgian Bay Land Trust won’t be the same without Wally King. We will miss his stories, his passion, and his regular letters and phone calls. Wally got this organization started, and he has kept us on our toes ever since. Thank you Wally for your remarkable legacy.

Read Wally’s obituary here.