264 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 62 PART 2 MARCH 2004
ing) snapped, “Please get on with your case. I don’t see any relevance in that fact that it was his birthday.” Grant proceeded without comment. Grant’s contributions to local governments in British Columbia, local government law, planning and land use law, and to municipal officers and legal, professional and continuing education over the 20 years of his practice, were sustained and significant. His various recorded presentations, lectures, papers and publications in innumerable professional venues constitute an important and influential body of work, and his efforts in this regard display an unstinting dedication to his chosen field and to assisting all of the various professions that play a part in making local government better in this province. Grant was a golfer, an avid fisherman and an incorrigible collector. He organized—truly organized—all that he collected. In that regard, it was never clear whether he collected because he liked to collect, or because collecting was a prerequisite to organizing. He did both in the same way he did everything—well. Grant died on September 14, 2003, at the age of 52—before he should have, but prepared and ready as ever. He leaves his wife and lifetime love, Kathy, and his beloved children, of whom he was so ever proud, Elizabeth, Graham and Erin. Raymond G. Young ﲁﲀﱿﲁﲀﱿﲁﲀﱿﲁﲀﱿﲁﲀﱿﲁﲀﱿ
Photo Credit: VANCOUVER SUN
Gordon Hudson Dowding
In 1963, with a freshly minted law degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I sought refuge from the biting Prairie winters to seek articles on the west coast, though as a late-arriving stranger to those shores, I got last pick: a struggling suburban practitioner who, on learning I could type, immediately laid off his secretary. As a civil libertarian, I had hoped to earn my spurs in the criminal courts, fighting for grand causes, but during half a year of typing my own letters I managed to squeeze in only one trial: a juvenile court matter involving a stolen Popsicle (which I lost after having tied up the local magistrate for an entire day with a motion to quash). Rescue came in the form of Gordon Dowding, long-time MLA and partner in a scrappy firm in the heart of Vancouver’s troubled downtown eastside. He invited me to transfer articles, and in the latter part of that year I became indentured to him, one of the happier moments of my life. I was suddenly an overworked trial lawyer defending an endless stream of legal aid or traffic cases (a key client of the firm of Macey, Dowding was an auto association which advertised: “We put a lawyer in your car”).