Alastair passed away peacefully at home after a long fight with Pulmonary Fibrosis. Alastair is survived by Sandra, his best friend and beloved wife of 31 years and pre-deceased by his parents, Robert Sinclair and Mary Sinclair (nee Somervile) of Glasgow, Scotland. He was also, pre-deceased by his brother David, sister-in-law Rosemary (nee MacPherson), stepson-in-law David Ritchie, and grandson David Gotlieb.
Alastair had five children: Douglas (Ana), Gillian (Stan), Andrea, Fiona (Norman), Michael (Jodi), and daughter-in-law Elizabeth. He was the proud grandfather of nine grandchildren: Alexandria (Bongi), Ashley (Dylan), Jamie, Charlie, Katie (Cameron), Graham, Erin, Cameron (Cass), Brady (Justus) and one great-grandson, Saba.
When Sandra married Alastair, he became part of another wonderful family: Cathy, Nancy, and Mark, with grandchildren Rebecca, Parker, and Austin.
Alastair grew up in Glasgow and was educated at The Glasgow Academy. On completion of high school, he followed in his brother David’s footsteps and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Highlights of his childhood were playing golf, tennis, rugby, cricket, football, and of course sailing. He was particularly involved with the Scouts and at the urging of his Scoutmaster, became a King’s Scout. As a Scout, he climbed the Morgenhorn twice which peaked over 11,000 feet.
In 1958 at the age of 24, Alastair immigrated to Montreal. He was hired by Clarkson Gordon where he began his path to partnership at Ernst & Young. He lived in Montreal until 1974 and then transferred to Calgary. In Calgary he had many hobbies which he enjoyed with his children including cross country skiing and hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and he even bought a horse named Cork.
In 1977 Alastair and his family moved back east to Ottawa where he stayed for the remainder of his life. Alastair was a passionate sailor, and his favourite place was anywhere on the water. Alastair and Sandra were members at Britannia Yacht Club where they enjoyed sailing. Alastair and his crew Stu, Terry, Kit, and Alan set sail every Tuesday afternoon, rain, or shine with the reward of a wee dram at the end of the day.
In retirement Alastair and Sandra continued to enjoy sailing, including crewing the tall ship The Soren Larsen twice. They also enjoyed golfing and travelling. They lived in New Zealand for a year and had many wonderful trips to Scotland where Alastair was able to maintain his close relationships with his Scottish family and friends. In Alastair’s later years he was still able to enjoy golfing with Sandra, his sons, grandchildren, and son in law. He was also able to maintain and captain his own sailboat Spindrift until he was 85 years old.
In his final days he was surrounded by family and mentioned what a great life he’d lived. He often told his family that he felt fortunate that he accomplished everything on his bucket list.
Many thanks to Dr Voduc, Orleans Palliative Care Team: Dr Vincent, Dr Plaintive, Dr Rioux, Bayshore Community Care Nursing, (special thanks to Jayrald and Heather).
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Celiac Canada.
Digital Guestbook
Elaine Grout-Brown
Anne Joynt
Sandra I was very saddened to hear of Alistair’s passing. I have fond memories of you and he together and sharing fun times in sunny locations. Please accept my sincere condolences. Anne
André and Francoise Bussière
To Sandra and all of Alastair’s family, our condolences on the passing of a great guy and a fine professional who mentored those he worked with.
Diana Eddy = Ralph &Trevor
We were surprised to hear about the passing of Alastair
and would like to express our deepest sympathies
Mike Connolly
Sandra and family:
Madelyn & I were so saddened to hear about Alastair. Losing your spouse is such a devastating event.
Alastair was a wonderful guy. When Alastair and I worked together, he spoke proudly about his Scottish roots - portraying that unshowy honesty, practicality and humane view of people. He always offered sound advice, and never hesitated to give it!
We just wanted to add our condolences to the many others you must be receiving at this time.
We are sorry for your loss.
Cheryl Cameron
Sandra, you may not remember me but I worked in the Word processing centre at Clarkson Gordon for 5 years.
I respected Alistair and always enjoyed speaking with him. He even took us sailing which was amazing.
My condolences to you and the family. I'm very happy to see you two led a full life together. I know you will miss him dearly. May he rest in peace.
Karen Tippett
Sandra and family. My condolences on your recent loss of Alastair. I always admired and respected him when I worked at Clarkson Gordon/Ernst & Young.
Karen Tippett
Christine Chartrand
My condolences goes out to you and your family. I worked with Alastair at Performance Mazda for many years. He will ne missed.
David & Mary Deas
Our deepest condolences to you Sandra and to all of Alastair’s children and grandchildren. From David and Mary, Alastair’s cousins in Scotland. We have very fond memories of his visits to his homeland.
Pete Little
Helen and I will always remember the wonderful welcome Alastair gave us when we transferred to the Ottawa CG office in 1982. We were invited to spend our first Christmas there with the Sinclair family. During our 3 years in Ottawa there were many fine lunches and dinners together, and lovely sailing evenings on the Ottawa River. Our condolences to Sandra and all the Sinclair family. Memories of a great guy, always remembered.
Sandra, I am very sorry to hear the news of Alastair. He was a very important mentor of mine as a young CA at Clarkson Gordon and in life in general. I have very fond memories of times spent with him. He taught me a lot of skills, both accounting and in life, including that all too confusing "Statement of Changes in Financial Position" that he was an ace at doing! Will and I send our sincere condolences to you and the family. RAS will be missed.