Former Pointe-Claire mayor Bill McMurchie dead at 93

Bill McMurchie, former mayor of Pointe-Claire, died at 93 on New Year’s Day.

McMurchie was elected as a councillor in 1990. He became mayor in 1998 and again in 2005, before retiring in 2013.

He died in Toronto, where he had been receiving care, surrounded by his loved ones.

McMurchie was born on a farm in Saskatchewan, but after discovering he was allergic to horses and hay, he could not take over the family farm. He studied at the University of Saskatoon and came to Montreal in 1956.

He fell in love with a French-Canadian woman with whom he spent 65 years.

He started his career in municipal politics as a city employee when he was hired to look after Stewart Hall on Pointe-Claire’s waterfront. The city had recently bought the mansion and it was completely empty, so he took care of it armed with a shotgun, said McMurchie’s daughter Kathleen.

Kathleen said her father was obviously very dependable to be given this responsibility in his twenties, but “he lived his life with great integrity.”

“My dad was not in [politics] for the accolades, he really and truly did it for the citizens,” she said.

Bill McMurchie and his wife Denise Chartrain spent 65 years together. (Courtesy of Kathleen McMurchie)

Kathleen remembers how her father loved Roger Whittacker because he whistled while he sang, "something people don't do anymore," she said.

McMurchie turned 93 on Dec. 21 and after a short hospitalization and died peacefully in his sleep.

His legacy as mayor includes helping Pointe-Claire demerge from Montreal, reducing speed limits, regulating wood-burning fireplaces and opening the West Island’s first Ecocentre.

The municipality will lower the flags at City Hall to half-mast in his honour.

“I think there’s one word that describes Bill and it’s a very Canadian word, and that’s the word ‘decent,’” said Peter Trent, former mayor of Westmount and good friend of McMurchie.

Trent said McMurchie was a thoughtful and balanced leader who brought the anglophone and francophone communities in Pointe-Claire together. He also had a great dry sense of humour.

“Bill, I found so warm and decent and reflective. He always thought before making a decision … I enjoyed his company very much and I will really really miss this man.”

McMurchie is survived by his wife, Denise, their three children Kathleen, Neil and Lyne; grandchildren Danielle, Colleen, Bennett, Claire, Ruby and Maria-Luiza; and great-grandchildren Caleb, Evelyn and Emerson.

McMurchie asked to be buried across from Pointe-Claire’s City Hall in the Saint-Joachim Church cemetery.