Stephen Paul Sigurdson
November 26, 1959 – November 16, 2016
With great sadness we announce the passing of Stephen Paul Sigurdson, on the afternoon of November 16th, 2016 in Toronto at the age of 56, following a cardiac arrest sustained in the Canary Islands in October. Steve was a loving husband and best friend to Leslie and an incredible father to Laura, Claire, Amy and Heather. He was above all else a family man and his family loved nothing more than spending time with him.
Steve was born in Morden, Manitoba on November 26, 1959 to Ivadell and the late Paul Sigurdson. He grew up in Morden before studying civil engineering at the University of Manitoba and law at Queen’s University, where he met his wife Leslie. He loved Queen’s and continued to stay involved with the law school by becoming a member of the Queen’s Law Dean’s Council.
Steve spent the majority of his legal career as a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP where he had a number of roles including Chair of the Business Law Department and, prior to that, as a Managing Partner of the firm. While at Osler, he also spent four years as Managing Partner of the New York office. In 2010, he joined Manulife as General Counsel Canada, becoming General Counsel in May of 2014. Steve loved and respected his colleagues and in turn was loved and respected by them; he truly enjoyed his work. You would never have known that he was such an incredibly admired and accomplished lawyer, he was modest almost to a fault and always preferred to heap praise on others over himself.
In addition to his other community involvement, Steve was a long time Director of the Board of the Canadian Stage Company and former member of the campaign cabinet for the Toronto United Way.
Steve was one of the happiest, kindest, smartest and most down to earth people on the planet. His positivity, integrity, sense of humour and love of life were infectious. He truly loved life and took advantage of all life had to offer and the relationships with the people he loved mattered more than anything to him. He loved spending his free time cycling, running, skiing, golfing, reading and learning about the world, going to the theatre, travelling with his family, being at the family cottage in Southampton and, most of all, spending time with his family. He always put his family before everything else in every way possible.
Above all of his other countless accomplishments, Steve was most proud of his four beautiful daughters, each of whom have grown up to be remarkably accomplished young adults who demonstrate the very best of his qualities in every way.
Steve is survived by his wife Leslie; his daughters Laura (Jonah), Claire (Nico), Amy and Heather; his mother Ivadell; his sisters Signy Lawson (Doug), Sara Driedger (Darcy) and Sylvia; his brother Gus (Jane); his mother and father in-law Joan and David Black; his sister and brother in-law Sue Lawson (Jim) and Ian Black (Siobhan); his nieces and nephews Adam (Maria), Danika (Adam), Paul, Kirk, Mithra, Brodie, Tim, Jonnie, Bronwyn and Ethan and extended family members.
Steve was deeply admired, respected and loved by his friends and family. He was extremely giving of himself and so much fun to be around. He will be unbelievably missed by all who knew him. A visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23rd at Mount Pleasant Funeral Centre, 375 Mount Pleasant Rd. (east gate entrance), and a memorial service will be held on Thursday, November 24th at Eglinton St. George’s United Church, 35 Lytton Blvd., at 2:30 p.m.
In loving memory of Steve and his deep commitment to education and Queen’s University, the Steve Sigurdson Queen’s Law Memorial Fund has been established. In lieu of flowers, please contact Dianne Butler at butlerd@queensu.ca or 1-800-267-7837 or visit: www.givetoqueens.ca/stevesigurdson