It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend, supporter and long time volunteer, Murray Ferguson.

Murray with some of the children at the Chausy Orphanage.

Murray and his family became involved with the Children of Chernobyl as a host family in 1994. His first visit to Belarus was to attend an International Conference marking the 10th Anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe. His family hosted children from the contaminated zones annually until 2001. Murray has been involved in many aspects of Canadian Aid for Chernobyl including Director of Children’s Relief from Radiation Program for six years, a Director at Large for several years and currently an appointed Officer to the Board.

Since 1999, he has overseen the coordination of the CAC warehouse in Brockville and has made more than 25 return visits to the contaminated regions of Belarus, assisting and overseeing the delivery of humanitarian aid. He has dedicated more than 22 years of volunteer service and devotion to help the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. Both of his children, Marla and Cole, have made multiple trips to Belarus to help facilitate some of CAC’s ambitious initiatives.

Murray was truly an unsung hero of CAC contributing tirelessly behind the scenes for more than 2 decades. Without question, it is volunteers like Murray that make every charity successful.

This past summer at the Canadian Aid for Chernobyl Gala, Murray was awarded the “Paul Harris Fellow Award”. This is the highest recognition within Rotary around the world and has been presented to such notables as Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandella and Pope John Paul II. Rotary created the “Paul Harris Fellow Award” to recognize outstanding individuals that have achieved tremendous accomplishments to better improve the quality of life for fellow man, through selfless acts of kindness and compassion.

Here is Murray with his daughter Marla and his son Cole after receiving the award.

A celebration of Murray’s life will be held this Saturday (March 11) afternoon at the Irvine Funeral Home in Brockville.  More details to follow. At the families request, please feel free to bring a story to share, as time will be made available to honour Murray’s wish.

Murray will be greatly missed by his friends here as well as his many friends in Belarus.  This Springs humanitarian mission to Belarus will be dedicated in memory of Murray.

Eric McKenzie