COBOURG, Ont. –Trucking industry veteran and long-time Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) stalwart Bud Barr passed away Oct. 15.

Barr passed away at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg.

“On behalf of the Ontario Trucking Association, I would like to express our deeply felt sadness on the passing of Bud and our sympathies to his family,” said OTA president, David Bradley. “Bud was an institution at OTA, an organization I know he loved and in so doing inspired us all. There was not a voluntary position at OTA that Bud did not hold. He was indeed as much a part of our group as the association staff. He will be greatly missed.”

The OTA Education Foundation also expressed its sadness over the passing of its former executive director.

Barr ran the OTA Education Foundation from 1992 to 2005 when he retired for health-related reasons.

“Bud Barr will always be remembered by those who worked with him during his tenure with the Education Foundation as an individual who took on his position with heart and soul,” said current foundation chairman Scott Smith, of J.D. Smith and Sons.

“I think that he really got a kick out of handing out scholarships to students of the Ontario trucking industry, and he certainly wasn’t shy about going after the industry for the much needed donations to fund the scholarship program.”

“This is a sad day for all of us,” added George Ledson, long-term director for the Foundation and president of Cavalier Transportation Services. “Bud certainly had his heart in the right place, and he really cared about the foundation, its scholarship program, and most of all, the students.”

Donations in his memory can be made to the OTA Education Foundation. •