Former Outboard Marine President Les Groombridge Dies

 

Staff writers for the Peterborough Examiner newspaper have reported that Les Groombridge died Sunday at the age of 86. Mr. Groombridge was well known in the marine industry and locally, was a Peterborough icon who rose to become president of the former Outboard Marine Corp. of Canada from 1980 to 1986 and then became the city’s economic development officer.

 

Les Groombridge died in the palliative care unit at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. In recent years he had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Raised in East City, Mr. Groombridge retired as president after 45 years with Outboard Marine, having worked his way to the top job after starting as an office boy.

 

Producers of Johnson, Evinrude and Elto outboard motors, along with chainsaws and snowmobiles, Outboard Marine had a 70-year history in Peterborough, beginning as the Johnson Motor Co. in 1928 at a plant on Monaghan Rd.

 

Mr. Groombridge then went on to work as the city’s planning and economic development director from 1987 to 1992.

 

Mr. Groombridge played a key role in the establishment of the Canadian Canoe Museum, which is located in former Outboard Marine buildings on Monaghan Rd. A former vice-chairman of the museum’s board, he used his business skills and network of contacts to co-develop the long-term business plan for the museum when it was getting off the ground in the late 1990s.

 

The newspaper report also noted that Mr. Groombridge had served as chairman for two years, on the board of governors for Fleming College, was on the board for five years and was a volunteer for 30 years.

 

He helped resurrect the Friends of Fleming Foundation in 1994, later serving as chairman of the foundation.

 

While at the foundation, he recruited former Montreal Canadiens player Bob Gainey in 2001 to be honorary fundraising chairman for the St. Joseph’s at Fleming fundraising campaign, which established the nursing home on Brealey Dr., next to the college’s Sutherland Campus.

 

The Groombridge Memorial Student Bursary was established in 1999 in memory of his sons William and Douglas who had died in separate accidents, one in a car crash at 23 and the other in a fall 15 years later.

 

In 1990, he was appointed to the Council of Regents, the governing body of the province’s community colleges, serving for six years.

Mr. Groombridge received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003 for contributions to the community.

 

He is survived by his wife of 65 years Laura May Morley, his son Jim (Cheryl) and daughter Deb (Mike O’Dette), 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

 

He was predeceased by three sons, William, John and Douglas.

 

Photo: Les Groombridge (left) at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Peterborough Canoe Museum.