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Memorable Manitobans: Eric B. Irwin (1955-2017)
Lawyer, municipal official, community activist.
Born at Neepawa on 6 September 1955, his mother died in 1957 and, the following year, he was adopted by Lloyd and Margaret Irwin of Isabella. He grew up on a small family farm and attended Brandon University, receiving a BA degree in History. He then studied law at the University of Manitoba. After a six-month trip to Europe with his wife, they moved to Dauphin where he articled with the Legal Aid Society. In 1980, he established his own law practice. He was a Life Bencher for the Law Society of Manitoba.
Active in the community, he was a New Democratic candidate for the Rock Lake constituency in the 1977 provincial general election and the Dauphin-Swan River constituency in the 1988 federal general election. He joined the board of directors for the Dauphin Consumers Co-op and, in 1982, became its President, serving until his death. This made him the longest-serving President of a Co-op district in the federal organization’s history. He was President of the Dauphin Countryfest (1998-2017) and was a Dauphin city councillor (1998-2002) and Mayor (2010-2017).
In recognition of his community service, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012).
He died while snorkelling in Florida on 24 November 2017.
Sources:
“Dauphin Mayor Eric Irwin died while snorkelling, daughter say,” CBC News, 27 November 2017.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 December 2017.
We thank Bill Blaikie for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 January 2022
Memorable Manitobans
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