- SNELL, James Frederick
We announce the death of James Frederick Snell on July 25th, 2013. He was the course marker, the compass, the road less travelled, the one with the quiet competence, to which others turned. He was a one-off and quiet leader in so many ways. A man of \'action\' and few words who was so beautifully attuned to nature, the woods and trees, the ocean and animals that he embodied what most people only aspire to with words he did in life: the \'spiritual\'. He did this pragmatically by demonstrating a quality of oneness with his surrounding and resources. In Wentworth Valley on his woodlot he very early on practiced sustainable woodlot management and experimented with growing species not native to Nova Scotia. In total he planted almost 100,000 trees. In a continuation of his interest in forestry he used wood to build houses. In 1975 when the container port was built in Halifax and the Canadian government was lamenting that we must become more than just \'hewers of wood and drawers of water\', he was of like mind, and working through the Federal Government and the Nova Scotia Agent General’s office in London he formed Habitations International (Interhabs). This company specialized in building architecturally designed, affordable, conservation award winning timber houses that are now standing in 28 areas of the world, from Chile and Argentina, from Europe to South Korea. He also appreciated historic buildings as well as new, and became one of the first and remained one of the longest-tenants of the Halifax \'Historic Properties\'. Anyone who knew James would recognize that he loved nature and animals and trod on this earth with precision and grace whether he was soaring over the Annapolis Valley in his glider or hiking and exploring nature with his dear dog Britta; swooshing down a mountain on his skis or artfully judging the winds in a race on his beloved sailboat. Born 1933 in Montreal, the first 10 years of his life were spent mostly in New Richmond on the Bay de Chaleur, Gaspé Peninsula, Que., from where his father exported timber from Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, to the United Kingdom and North Africa. In the 1940s when Frederick W. Snell became associated with R . A. Jodrey of Hantsport, in the export of east coast Canadian lumber to help rebuild war-torn Europe, the family moved to Nova Scotia and James went on to boarding school in Rothesay (RCS), N.B. He loved all his years so much at RCS, he did not want to leave to take Engineering at Dalhousie. For over 40 years he served first as fleet captain, rear, vice and then full commodore at Bedford Basin Yacht Club, and then president of Nova Scotia Yacht Racing Association. From then on countless provincial, national and international sporting committees, notably 1972 co-chair with Hume Wells of Canadian Olympic Trials (HOTSAIL) in Halifax for Kiel Germany, at which Soling crew from British Columbia won Canada’s first Olympic sailing medal. He was also a long-time member of O’Keefe Sports Foundation, Toronto, which funded coaches for all sporting disciplines in the whole of Canada. After his housing project \'Yachtside One\', designed by internationally renowned architect David Forsythe won the Canadian Multiple Housing Design award in 1974, James was invited to become a member of the Canadian Housing Design Council in Ottawa. He later went on to be one of the three-person national award selection jury. For 12 years (1982-94) he served as government appointee to the Board of Saint Mary’s University and was chairman of the building committee recreation and fitness centre. In 1984 he was the first Nova Scotia member of Progressive Conservative Canada 500 club; a founding member of Halifax World Trade & Convention Centre; in 2000 a member of the Nova Scotia Business Development Corporation in John Hamm’s Government. A small service is to be held on August 9th in the chapel of Rothesay Netherwood School, much beloved by James and arranged by his lifelong friend, John Warburton Bate. A stone will be placed in Hampton, N.B. beside those of his grandfather and father.
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1933 - 2013 (80 years)
(Age 84 years)