Funeral held for Montreal Community Contact newspaper founder Egbert Gaye
A funeral service was held Thursday morning for beloved journalist and founder of Montreal Community Contact newspaper Egbert Gaye at the Westmount Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Many coming to say goodbye and vowing to make sure his legacy and the community he served – live on.
The flags of Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago draped over Gaye’s coffin.
“He’s everything, was everything to us. He had joy, he was kind, he was generous, he was smart. He loved his community, and we loved him,” said Margaret Corion, cousin of Gaye.
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“When he moved to Montreal when he started a newspaper, he means everything to the anglophone community and to a lot more people. He was a voice for the community,” Corion added.
“We will miss him so terribly. So terribly. The family and everybody will miss him.”
Gaye not only started Montreal’s only newspaper for the city’s Black English-speaking community – he was a mentor to many and gave multiple local journalists their first start.
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- Editor of Montreal Community Contact, Egbert Gaye, has died
- Death of newspaper founder leaves gap in publication for Montreal’s English-speaking Black community
“Ever since I’ve known Egbert, he’s always been a hard, diligent, dedicated community worker. This is going to be a huge, huge loss for the community. Not just the Black community but the Montreal community on the whole,” said Joselin Phillip, a friend of Gaye.
“That’s the type of person Egbert is. Always looking out for the other person.”
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Egbert Gaye memorial pamphlet. (Photo Credit: Diona Macalinga, CityNews)
Quebec MNA and minister responsible for the fight against racism – Christopher Skeete – spoke at his funeral, and said he will be donating $5,000 to Montreal Community Contact to help continue the work Gaye started.
Skeete also announced that Gaye would receive the Medal of the National Assembly Québec posthumously.
Gaye is survived by his wife Elizabeth, his son Emar Mitchell, his daughter-in-law Djemira de Pagter and his newborn grandson, who came into the world just three days after Gaye’s passing. Mitchell and de Pagter announced the name of their son, Malachi-Egbert, in honour of his grandfather.
