BRIGHTON, Ont. — The Canadian trucking industry bade farewell to one of its icons of safety last week with the passing of George T. Fraser.

"He was one of the brightest safety minds in our industry,” recalls his friend and colleague Raymond Mercuri, Markel Insurance’s Signature Service account manager.

Fraser passed away Monday, July 18, at 77, after a lifetime of adventure and achievement.

Born in the eastern Cape Breton village of Alder Point, N.S. in 1934, Fraser left home at 14 to board a Great Lakes Freighter and amazingly, saved enough money to buy his very first truck and go into business for himself at 16.

Over the next years he served variously in the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian sporting industry as the managing director of the Canada Games. He joined trucking in New Brunswick, as Brookville Transport’s director of safety, which he parlayed into an insurance-industry post with Boreal insurance as their loss-prevention manager.

Not one to retire, at 65, Fraser started FCA (Fraser Consulting Agency) and became an industry leader.

Mercuri — himself highly regarded as a safety promoter — says Fraser was a huge influence: “I read a lot of his fleet safety program policies and initiatives over the years as he was always willing to share. His material was always thought provoking. He was a real leader.”

(For a clear example of how Mercuri and Fraser worked together in the interest of the industry, click here. 

An avid reader, blogger and family historian, Fraser remained active to the end.

He is predeceased by his mother Viola and father Simon.?

Fraser is survived by his wife of 56 years, Carmen (Mcneil) Fraser; sisters, Shirley Cahill, Mina MacLennan, Judy Macready, Ginny Laffin, Marilyn Broderick, Eleanor Shaw; brothers, Simon and Derrick; many nieces and nephews.

Donations in Fraser’s name to the Canadian Cancer Society would be greatly appreciated.