Obituary of Eric Innes

Eric said his final goodbye to his loving partner, and best friend of 41 years, Candace, and his two devoted sons, Brendan and Scott, at Princess Margaret Hospital on January 2, 2009, before peacefully slipping away. After being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in October 2007, Eric committed himself to fighting the disease and living his life to the fullest with his family and friends. He was so touched by everyone involved in his treatments at PMH, and demonstrated his gratitude for the care he received by helping them in their quest to conquer cancer. He was the Captain of TEAM INNES in The Ride To Conquer Cancer, and even while undergoing treatments he demonstrated his incredible courage, strength, and commitment to the fight by completing the entire 200+ km ride in June 2008, and was the second largest individual fundraiser. He was born and raised in Montreal, graduating from Beaconsfield High School in 1967 and Bishop's University with an Honour's B.A. in Economics in 1971. Eric was predeceased by his parents, Barbara (Bobby) Innes (Tooke) and Richard (Dick) Innes. Eric had a love of life and sports in particular; playing football and ski racing throughout high school and university, as well as golfing throughout his life. Eric built an illustrious business career in the world of financial management; starting at McLeod, Young, Weir in 1971 and moving on to the Trust industry. In 1983, Eric co-founded Yield Management Group Inc. to provide innovative, quantitative investment products to Canadian institutional investors. In 1997, the firm listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and changed its name to YMG Capital Management Inc. When YMG was sold to Fiera Capital Inc. in 2006, it was one of the few independent full-service, multi-product investment firms in Canada with assets under management of over $15 billion dollars. Eric continued to serve as Vice Chairman at Fiera until his passing. Eric was an active supporter of Crescent School, the school his boys attended, serving on the Board for 10 years and as Chair of the Board from 2004 - 2007. He was honoured for his commitment to the school in September 2008, when Crescent opened their new artificial turf field and named it the "Eric A. T. Innes Field". His passion for life, commitment to his family, unwavering optimism, and strength of character has had an impact on everyone who knew him and will be cherished with his memory. We would like to thank all of the wonderful people at PMH for their excellent care and particularly acknowledge Dr. Malcolm Moore, Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz, Dr. Gary Rodin and the Palliative Care team. Eric would welcome your support of TEAM INNES in the 2009 Ride To Conquer Cancer, in his effort to help others facing the challenges of cancer. To donate please visit www.conquercancer.ca/goto/ericinnes. A reception to celebrate Eric's life will be held at his golf course in Toronto at a later date.