To Purdy Crawford
Dear Purdy,
Seems that life is just a little quieter with you gone. You must have been tickled by the tribute. So many people you touched came forward, declared to Bea and the children their gratitude and admiration for you, wrote to newspapers and in blogs, and entertained each other with your quips and a few of your sage observations about the state of the nation, your trust in human nature, and your belief in the potential of young talent.
The word most heard in all these reflections was fairness. That’s the quality you brought effortlessly to everything you did, and because of this I’m tempted to say that you were a paragon of Canadian virtue. Sorry if this makes you blush up there, but I can easily name the values you held dear, knowing that each of these is a value that we Canadians hold dear as a society. I’ll start with the equality of opportunity and excellence – your twin belief that everyone should have the chance to achieve greatness and that everyone has a duty to shoot for it. Much has been made of your humble beginning as a coal miner’s son (even though, as you routinely pointed out, most Nova Scotian families have coal mining somewhere in their backgrounds). But it’s uplifting to remember that you began your academic career as a scruffy kid in a two-room rural schoolhouse and rocketed upward with scholarships to Mount Allison, Dalhousie, and Harvard. You benefited from – and always acknowledged – a society intent on propelling those with talent and drive, no matter how humble or obscure their beginnings. You were treated fairly – nothing more – and you paid that back by mentoring, sponsoring, and cajoling those who later turned to you for advice in ways that enabled them to reach for their own distant goals. You just made sure everyone had a fair chance, as you had.
That’s really it, isn’t it? The best and fastest way to get the most from hard-working people is first to make sure they’re included. Everything depends on our not being blinded by anyone’s sense of (or worse, claim to) privilege. To nearly all Canadians, that may sound unquestionably obvious – but it wasn’t always so. You saw that it wasn’t, and you made it so wherever you appeared.
Purdy, your devotion to fairness will never be forgotten. I miss you.
David
Purdy Crawford (1931–2014), a companion of the Order of Canada, is known widely in Canada as a quintessential corporate philanthropist and a caring and sensitive leader. One of our country’s leading lawyers and entrepreneurs, he is honoured in both the Nova Scotia and Canadian business halls of fame. He was Mr. Johnston’s mentor in law, and he and his wife, Bea, are godparents to Sharon, the Johnstons’ third daughter. Purdy and Bea had agreed that should anything happen to Mr. and Mrs. Johnston, their five daughters would simply be swept up into the Crawfords’ family of eight. Mr. Johnston delivered a eulogy at Purdy’s funeral in August 2014.