THORDARSON, Bruce MacLeod
It is with profound sadness that we mark the untimely passing of our good friend and colleague, Bruce Thordarson. Bruce died last week on April 01, 2018, at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa, following a stroke and fall.
Bruce was a valued member of the Board of Directors of our co-operative from 2012 to 2015. He will be remembered as a remarkably staunch advocate not only for FCO, but for co-operatives all around the world. Virtually Bruce’s whole career was spent working with coops. Born in Mozart, Saskatchewan and raised in Saskatoon, Bruce came east in the late 60s/early 70s to study at Carleton University. In 1972, Bruce published a small well-regarded book: ‘Trudeau and Foreign Policy: A Study in Decision-Making’, and then in 1974, he wrote and published another book, this one about Canada’s fourteenth Prime Minister titled: ‘Lester Pearson: Diplomat and Politician’.
Bruce’s formal career with the coop sector began in the mid-70s when he became the government affairs/external relations specialist with the Canadian Co-operative Credit Society, which was the national association of credit unions in Canada. In 1979, Bruce moved to become Executive Director of the Co-operative Union of Canada and of the Co-operative Development Foundation. In late 1986, Bruce then moved on to Europe where he was firstly the Director for International Development for the worldwide International Co-operative Alliance, headquartered in Geneva. He then became the Director General of that organization and held that position from 1990 through to 1999.
After his career with the ICA, Bruce did consultancies for the Canadian Co-operative Association in Indonesia and Vietnam. And more recently, he volunteered to help the co-operative movement in Indonesia with various seminars and workshops, and was instrumental in helping the formation of the National Association of Strategic Socio-Economic Cadres in that country.
A short service will be held at FCO this coming Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 10AM to mark the death of Bruce, and a memorial service will take place later this summer.
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