Robert "Alastair" Sinclair

Alastair passed away peacefully at home after a long fight with Pulmonary Fibrosis. Alastair is survived by Sandra, his best friend and beloved wife of 31 years and pre-deceased by his parents, Robert Sinclair and Mary Sinclair (nee Somervile) of Glasgow, Scotland. He was also, pre-deceased by his brother David, sister-in-law Rosemary (nee MacPherson), stepson-in-law David Ritchie, and grandson David Gotlieb.

Alastair had five children: Douglas (Ana), Gillian (Stan), Andrea, Fiona (Norman), Michael (Jodi), and daughter-in-law Elizabeth. He was the proud grandfather of nine grandchildren: Alexandria (Bongi), Ashley (Dylan), Jamie, Charlie, Katie (Cameron), Graham, Erin, Cameron (Cass), Brady (Justus) and one great-grandson, Saba.

When Sandra married Alastair, he became part of another wonderful family: Cathy, Nancy, and Mark, with grandchildren Rebecca, Parker, and Austin.

Alastair grew up in Glasgow and was educated at The Glasgow Academy. On completion of high school, he followed in his brother David’s footsteps and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Highlights of his childhood were playing golf, tennis, rugby, cricket, football, and of course sailing. He was particularly involved with the Scouts and at the urging of his Scoutmaster, became a King’s Scout. As a Scout, he climbed the Morgenhorn twice which peaked over 11,000 feet.

In 1958 at the age of 24, Alastair immigrated to Montreal. He was hired by Clarkson Gordon where he began his path to partnership at Ernst & Young. He lived in Montreal until 1974 and then transferred to Calgary. In Calgary he had many hobbies which he enjoyed with his children including cross country skiing and hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and he even bought a horse named Cork.

In 1977 Alastair and his family moved back east to Ottawa where he stayed for the remainder of his life. Alastair was a passionate sailor, and his favourite place was anywhere on the water. Alastair and Sandra were members at Britannia Yacht Club where they enjoyed sailing. Alastair and his crew Stu, Terry, Kit, and Alan set sail every Tuesday afternoon, rain, or shine with the reward of a wee dram at the end of the day.

In retirement Alastair and Sandra continued to enjoy sailing, including crewing the tall ship The Soren Larsen twice.  They also enjoyed golfing and travelling. They lived in New Zealand for a year and had many wonderful trips to Scotland where Alastair was able to maintain his close relationships with his Scottish family and friends. In Alastair’s later years he was still able to enjoy golfing with Sandra, his sons, grandchildren, and son in law. He was also able to maintain and captain his own sailboat Spindrift until he was 85 years old.

In his final days he was surrounded by family and mentioned what a great life he’d lived. He often told his family that he felt fortunate that he accomplished everything on his bucket list.

Many thanks to Dr Voduc, Orleans Palliative Care Team: Dr Vincent, Dr Plaintive, Dr Rioux, Bayshore Community Care Nursing, (special thanks to Jayrald and Heather).

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Celiac Canada.