Quietly made a difference

Hugh McKellar, a remarkable humanitarian and long-time volunteer died Feb. 8 following surgery. A retired high school English teacher and librarian, McKellar had a passion for choral music and was an expert in hymnology. He also wrote novels.

For 18 years, McKellar assisted the Anglican Journal as a volunteer in the circulation department. At The Anglican, the newspaper of the diocese of Toronto, McKellar wrote a choral music column and was a volunteer proofreader for 16 years.

McKellar also volunteered with the Children’s Aid Society, the Cancer Society, the Hadassah Bazaar and the Conservative Party of Canada. He established the Hugh D. McKellar Fund to support the Lambton County Music Festival and St. Michael’s Cathedral Choir School by subsidizing the fees for theory exams at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. McKellar also offered his villa in Barbados to those in need.

“Hugh McKellar was a remarkable person,” says Beverley Murphy, senior manager of Communications and Information Resources for the Anglican Church of Canada. “He was humble and generous in spirit and dedicated to the church, his fellow man and the wider community,” says Murphy. “He will be greatly missed.”