Former president of the Canadian Snowbird Association Don Gardiner had a beaming smile and an irrepressible optimism that carried him far in life. Joseph Daniel (“Don”) Gardiner (1939-2018) was a kind-hearted man who dreamed big, achieved remarkable business success and left an impressive legacy of community leadership. Best known as founder of Gardiner Realty Limited and Gardiner Properties of Fredericton, N.B., Don died peacefully on April 7, 2018 at age 79 surrounded by his wife Alice and his loving family in Halifax, N.S. Son of Cape Bretoner Joseph Daniel Gardiner, a Glace Bay coal mine inspector, Don rose from humble beginnings in Table Head and grew up to become one of the most successful independent businessmen in the real estate industry of the Maritimes. He was smitten by Alice in his teens and, after a year at St. Francis-Xavier Junior College in Sydney, took up his first job at the Household Finance Corporation (HFC) office in Glace Bay. Don and Alice tied the knot on June 23, 1962 and, over a 10-year period, Don rose up the ranks in the financial services field, developing a taste for driving impressive-looking Lincoln Town Cars. In early 1969, Don risked everything by making a fortuitous move to New Brunswick’s capital city and a year later at age 30, he took out a small loan, incorporated his own firm – Gardiner Realty Limited – and never looked back. Eight years after founding the firm, in the April 1978 issue of Atlantic Advocate, Don was hailed as “an Atlantic Success Story.”With some 19 branch offices and 150 employees at its height of business, Don and his wife and business partner Alice were the toast of the town, well-known and respected members of Fredericton society. Don was one Maritime businessman fully committed to giving something back to the community. Seeing the ravages of lung disease first-hand in Cape Breton, Don volunteered over a 12-year period with the Canadian Lung Association and served as national president in 1991-92. Under Don’s leadership, his home province took the lead in the “Cold Turkey Challenge” to ban smoking in public spaces and, with daughter Donna and son-in-law Lincoln left running the firm, he travelled across Canada campaigning for smoking bans and lobbying Ottawa for tighter laws restricting the sale of tobacco to minors. Being named to the Order of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson on July 18, 2000 was a tremendous highlight, and it coincided with the 30th anniversary year of Gardiner Realty. Eventually, Don was approached to serve on the executive of the Canadian Snowbird Association and in 2007 was elected to serve as president, assuming the post at the January 2008 annual meeting in Lakeland, Florida. In that new volunteer role, Don and Alice went on the road travelling to popular Canadian retirement havens in Texas, Arizona, Mexico and Florida, meeting thousands of CSA members. Over his two-year term, 2008 and 2009, Don travelled back and forth to the Toronto headquarters and raised the organization’s profile in the Maritimes. Don took great pride, in later years, in the growth and resilience of the family firm, now known as the Gardiner Group of Companies. Operating out of five real estate offices, the firm also ran Gardiner Properties through which they own subdivisions, shopping centres (in Bible Hill, N.S. and Cornwall, P.E.I.), warehouses and land for future development. Until recently, Don operated a business consulting and investment division in Halifax, N.S., where he was behind a number of large business deals. Plans are underway for a 50th anniversary celebration of the Gardiner Group of Companies. With Alice at his side, Don achieved far more than remarkable business success. Over five decades, he managed to raise a family, head the Canadian branch of the International Real Estate Federation, chair the Canadian Lung Association’s anti-smoking campaign and receive an Order of Canada and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his charitable activities. After relocating to Halifax in June 2004, he played an active role in the Halifax Club and the Capital Campaign for the newHalifax Central Library. He and Alice remained generous contributors to the Halifax Memorial Veteran’s Garden, QE II Hospital Foundation and the Central Library. His most recent passion project was a $140-million privately funded 20,000-seat stadium in Halifax which would house a newCanadian Football League team. Proud son of Cape Breton, global ambassador for Fredericton and, above all, devoted husband and beloved companion for 56 years of Alice, Don will be sorely missed by all who knew him – as a true gentlemen, a businessman with a big heart, impeccably dressed and unfailingly polite in his dealings with everyone. OBITUARY Don Gardiner JANUARY 23, 1939 – APRIL 7, 2018 CSANews | SPRING 2018 | 57
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