In banking circles, today is “cheque day,” which means the month is just about over. And what a month it’s been! From rubbing elbows with Chuck and Millie at Grand Parade to spilling the coffee beans on the upcoming visit of Bob Marley’s java-brewing progeny, May has been very, very busy.
Among the rich and Halifamous celebrating birthdays this month were bold Halifax mayor Mike Savage, who turned 54 on May 13; Almon Street convenience store king and Gottingen Street property developer George Israel, who celebrated the Big 6-0 with friends and family at his Clayton Park abode; and, of course, Spryfield’s most notable export, J.L. Ilsley alum Alden Brown a.k.a. adult film legend Peter North.
Since moving to the U.S. in the early 1980s, millionaire, O.C.-dwelling Alden (who turned 57 on May 11) has appeared in nearly 2,600 movies, and amassed enormous worth with his enormous … um … girth.
Speaking of birth days, hearty congratulations go out to RBC Dominion Securities guy Dan Rudisuela and wife Lindsay Gallivan – a Labour Relations Officer with the Department of National Defence – on the May 21st arrival of their first-born Grace, who weighed in at 8-pounds, 14-ounces.
Also heralding the stork’s visit this month was Canadian chanteuse Anne Murray who became a first-time grandma thanks to son Will Langstroth and his wife (whose name unfortunately escapes me). “It’s a girl … a grandmother at last!” tweeted 68-year-old Murray May 9, prompting congratulatory tweets from tennis legend Billy Jean King, best-selling crime author Patricia Cornwell, and Cornwell’s wife, Dr. Staci Gruber.
Unfortunately Mother’s Day was a more sombre occasion this year for family and friends of Seabright artist Andrea Redmond, who passed away May 11, just a few short months after she’d been diagnosed with cancer.
“It is with great sadness that we, the family of Andrea Redmond, announce that she passed away on May 11, 2014,” her daughter Emily McDonah wrote on the gallery webpage. “As it was an increasingly important goal of hers to use the reach of her art to spread happiness, passion, inspiration and goodness, it will be my goal as her daughter to continue to use her beautiful work to carry on her legacy and goals.”
“As such, the Andrea Redmond Studio Gallery will regretfully be closing with all her current artwork being held for future fundraising endeavours.
Fifty-one-year-old Andrea, the sister of former Queens County MLA Vicki Conrad, will be formally remembered at her Peggy’s Cove Road gallery June 8.
Heartfelt condolences also go out to Bryant Realty Atlantic president Sandra Bryant and her family following the May 8th death of her 20-year-old daughter Abigail, a childhood cancer survivor and a founding member of Nova Scotia’s Friends of Gilda’s chapter, a cancer-support organization so named for Saturday Night Live comedienne Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer 25 years ago last week.
“In an effort to inform everyone about the Friends of Gilda’s Nova Scotia, Abby crusaded a project of storytelling/sharing, planning to capture cancer journeys and experiences through various media and make these available through our website,” the society wrote beneath a tribute video – featuring Abby’s own 2012 message – posted to YouTube on May 14.
“The goal: to help ensure anyone going through cancer could connect with others – so as to ensure that no one would go through cancer alone.
Click on the photo above to watch the Friends of Gilda’s tribute video to Abby.
Clearwater CEO John Risley and his brother, RCR Hospitality Group president Robert Risley (White Point, Onyx, CUT, Bistro Le Coq, etc,) also mourned the loss of a loved one this month – their 93-year-old mother Patricia Anne Risley who, according to her obituary, supervised the colouring of Wallace MacAskill’s famed black-and-white photos at National Art during the 1960s.
In business news, the Canadian Lebanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry named Chain Lake Dental Center’s Dr. Nada Haidar their Professional of the Year at the 7th Annual Cedar and Maple Gala at Pier 21 earlier this month. Raised in Dartmouth, Nada received her Doctor of Dental Surgery from Dalhousie University in 1997.
And for the sixth year in a row, Canadian Mortgage Professional magazine published its list of Top 75 brokers. The volume-based ranking, which uses voluntarily submitted and verified data to formulate the pecking order, included two Metro mortgage men this year. Clinton Wilkins, of Centum Home Lenders on Wyse Road, ranked 25th with 253 deals totalling $50.8 million, and Verico Premiere Mortgage Centre’s Scott Bentley made the list at number 50 with 154 deals totalling $39.3 million.
And finally, over in Fairview, The Family Focus Medical Clinic on Joe Howe Drive has a new doctor in the house. Dr. Nader Yacoub, a 1989 graduate of Egypt’s Ain Shams University Faculty of Medicine was scheduled to begin accepting new patients on May 26.
For more updates and sarcasm, follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @citizenwilliams.
