Obituary of Gary Norman Tompkins

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved son, husband, father, brother and uncle.  Gary passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on June 10, 2017 at age 60 years.  Predeceased by his father Donald in 1996, Gary is survived by his mother Joan Tompkins, his wife Sandra, son Michael (Kayla Bell), daughter Megan, sisters Janice (Ken) Webster and Sandra (John Frogley) Tompkins, sisters-in-law Carol Fisher, Cindy (Larry) Kynock, Debbie (Jim Hiltz) MacDonald and brother-in-law Robert Fisher (Lek), as well as numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. Gary was born in Kingston, Ontario on August 11, 1956 into a military family.  As a result, his early years were spent moving frequently with his father’s postings within Canada and abroad.  Gary loved sports as a child and played minor hockey and baseball.  When not involved in organized sports, he could be found playing road hockey for endless hours, organizing his sports card collection, creating phantom hockey drafts, or reading. Gary graduated from Queen’s University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Mathematics and Economics.  He went on to obtain his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.  In 1982 he joined the faculty of the Economics Department at the University of Regina where he grew into a respected member of the department serving multiple times as Department Head.  Gary retired in 2013 after 31 years of service and was granted Professor Emeritus status.  He stayed involved by creating and providing an on-line class during the Fall semesters. Gary was a kind and generous man who believed in treating everyone with fairness, dignity and respect.  He served on many committees over the years including the City of Regina’s Urban Environment Advisory Council, the Saskatchewan Drug Plan Formulary Committee, the University of Regina’s Pension and Benefits Committee and he was most proud of his service on two committees that did studies and made recommendations on the provision of health laboratory services in the provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia.  He was a no-nonsense chief negotiator in the settlement of several collective bargaining agreements representing the faculty and administrative support staffs at the University. Gary loved to travel and enjoyed spending time at the condo in Palm Spring and time-shares on Maui and St. John, US Virgin Islands.  He was looking forward to much travel in retirement, but recent health issues had put a temporary hold on plans.  He was also happy just bombing around town in his beloved Audi.  Gary was a life-long fan of all major Detroit sports teams – Red Wings hockey, Tigers baseball, and Lions football.  He was also an avid soccer fan, his favourite team being Manchester United.  He also took delight in attending and often coaching Mike’s indoor soccer games.  Gary was a voracious reader and had a very eclectic taste in music.  He had a wonderful sense of humour and loved to tell jokes and create puns.  The more they made you groan, the better he liked them.  He had a large number of Facebook friends with whom he loved to argue and banter back and forth, always trying to get in the last word.  Gary was a devoted family man.  He and Sandra started dating in high school.  They married six years later and were married for 38 happy years.  He was extremely proud of Mike and Megan’s accomplishments and was delighted to be on the stage at their respective convocations from the University of Regina, hooding them himself for their degrees.  Gary touched the lives of a great many people and he will be sadly missed.  A celebration of his life will take place on Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. in the Speers Funeral Chapel, 2136 College Avenue, Regina.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Gary’s memory to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada would be greatly appreciated.