With a Broken Heart: Remembering Gary MacGregor.
Dear Friends, Rotarians, and everyone who was lucky enough to cross paths with Gary MacGregor.
This morning I opened an email that began with the words no one ever wants to read. My heart was pounding as I scanned the lines, silently begging, praying, that the name at the end would be anyone but him. But there it was: Gary. Our Gary. The gentle giant of Rotary who had been part of my life for almost thirty years was gone.
I’m still not ready to write this in the past tense.
For fifty-one years (fifty-one!) Gary MacGregor was the steady heartbeat of the Rotary Club of Scarborough. He joined on January 8, 1974, served as President in 1981-82, and then quietly, faithfully, joyfully kept showing up as Director, Secretary, Treasurer of the club and of Ribfest, and as District 7070 Treasurer for longer than most of us have been alive in Rotary. He never needed the spotlight; he just needed the work to get done, and done right.
If you spent even five minutes with Gary, you knew three things instantly:
He was impossible to upset. Seriously, I tried once or twice (we all did) and failed spectacularly.
He always saw the angle nobody else had noticed. While the rest of us were charging in one direction, Gary would tilt his head, smile that little half-smile, and gently ask, “Have we thought about it this way?” And suddenly the whole room would stop, think, and realize he was right.
He had the warmest, most genuine smile you’ve ever seen on another human being. Even on the hardest days, even when his own body was slowing down and the work became heavier, that smile never dimmed.
Gary didn’t follow the crowd; he led by quiet example. He didn’t raise his voice; he raised the standard. He didn’t seek recognition; he sought results, especially for the people and causes Rotary serves. And he did it all with a kindness that made you want to be better just because you were around him.
Today the world feels a little colder, a little quieter, and a whole lot emptier without him. I will miss his phone calls that always started with “Now don’t panic, but…”, his terrible dad-jokes at Ribfest meetings, the way he could balance a spreadsheet and a heart-to-heart conversation at the same time, and most of all, the way he made every single person feel seen and valued.
To Ian and Leslie, and to Gary’s entire family: thank you for sharing him with us for all these years. We are heartbroken with you, and we are holding you close in our thoughts and prayers.
Rest easy, my dear friend. The gavel has been passed, the books are balanced forever, and somewhere up there I’m sure you’re already organizing a perfect Ribfest in the sky, smiling that smile, and reminding everyone to look at things from just one more angle.
Service Above Self wasn’t just a motto for Gary MacGregor.
It was the way he lived, every single day.
I will miss you always.
We all will.
With a heavy heart and endless gratitude,
Your Rotary friend forever
That smile. That kindness. Forever missed. Rest easy, my friend.
NEVINE YASSA - Past President Rotary Club of Scarborough
