Harold Newton Fanjoy

Nov. 1, 1939 – April 26, 2008
FANJOY, HAROLD NEWTON – Surrounded by his family, the death of Harold Fanjoy, husband of Marilyn (Bishop) Fanjoy occurred on April 26, 2008 at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Harold was born in Saint John on November 1, 1939 to the late I. Newton and Muriel G. (Seely) Fanjoy. Harold was the MLA for Kings Centre from 1974 to 1987 and served as Minister of Supply and Services and Chairman of the Treasury Board/Board of Management. He was a past master of the St. Martins Lodge #30 F&AM. Harold was a life long scouter and founding leader of the 61st BP Guild of the Boy Scouts of Canada. He was also a member of the Westfield Golf and Country Club, St. Luke’s Anglican Church (Main Street), St. Luke’s Choir, and the Saint John Y’s Men Club. Harold had a passion for Genealogy, being a past president of the Saint John Branch of the NB Genealogical Society.

Besides his loving wife, Marilyn, Harold is survived by two sons: Ben (Lorrie) of Grand Bay-Westfield, NB and Gregory (Elizabeth) of Toronto, ON; two brothers: Emery (Nan) of Halifax, NS and Paul (Jill) of Rothesay, NB; six grandchildren: Seth and Charlotte Fanjoy of Grand Bay-Westfield, NB and John, Catherine, Megan and James Fanjoy of Toronto, ON and several cousins, nieces and nephews.

Resting at Brenan’s Select Community Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, Saint John (634-7424), with visiting on Monday from 7 to 9 pm and Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm. Following cremation, the funeral service will be held from St. Luke’s Anglican Church (Main Street) on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 11 am. A Masonic tribute service will be held Monday at 7 pm during visitation. Internment in Fernhill Cemetery. Remembrances made be made to the charity of the donor’s choice. www.brenansfh.com

Published in Telegraph Journal on Monday April 28, 2008

Former Hatfield minister dies

FREDERICTON – The funeral service for former provincial cabinet minister Harold Newton Fanjoy will take place at St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Saint John, on Wednesday. He died at the Saint John Regional Hospital on Saturday at 68. The Saint John native served as Progressive Conservative MLA for Kings Centre from 1974 to 1987. He served as minister of Supply and Services and chairman of the Treasury Board/Board of Management in the government of the late premier Richard Hatfield. He was a lifelong scouter, and belonged to several community organizations. He is survived by his wife Marilyn and two sons. Premier Shawn Graham expressed condolences.

Published in the Provincial Journal Tuesday April 29th, 2008

Former MLA had quiet soul, kind heart

SAINT JOHN – Since his death last Saturday at age 68, Hatfield-era cabinet minister Harold N. Fanjoy has been remembered by politicians of all stripes as a loyal party man who had the respect of both sides of the New Brunswick Legislature.

He also had the full respect of his staff, says former executive assistant and good friend Lee French, who will help eulogize the former Kings East MLA (1974-87) during today’s 11 a.m. funeral service at St. Luke’s Anglican Church on Main Street (North).

“He was a guy with a quiet soul and a kind heart,” French said Tuesday. “He loved his constituency, which was very rural. His door was always open to everybody rather they were socializing or were there as a constituent, with a particular problem.”

He said Fanjoy, who served as both minister of Supply and Services and chairman of the Treasury Board/Board of Management under Premier Richard Hatfield, was a traditionalist who loved the legislature, its history and its protocol.

“If there were 100 people singing God Save the Queen, (Harold) would be the guy who was standing most ramrod straight,” he said. “He was dedicated to the monarchy and his country.”

Both French and current Opposition House Leader Bev Harrison, who sat on the government benches with Fanjoy, cited the instrumental role he played in convincing the province to purchase Camp Pascobac from the Saint John Y’s Men’s Club and place it under the oversight of a volunteer board for public use.

“It still operates on the same mandate that Harold set up, which is one of his legacies to that region,” said Harrison, whose present-day riding of Hampton-Kings includes the camp.

Fanjoy, he said, was a sociable, down-to-earth guy, with a big smile who tended to take things in stride.

“He was sort of your typical Kings County genteel sort of fellow,” he said.

Liberal Premier Shawn Graham said Fanjoy “was well-known for his passion to serve the people of his community, and was well-respected by his colleagues, regardless of which side of the house they sat on. He will be missed by all who knew and worked with him.”

Born in Saint John on Nov. 1, 1939, Harold Newtown Fanjoy was the youngest of three sons of the late I. Newton and Muriel G. (Seely) Fanjoy.

His father was a popular teacher at Saint John Vocational School, from which Fanjoy graduated before studying accounting at the New Brunswick Community College in Moncton. He worked as an accountant at the Bank of Nova Scotia and NBTel before embarking on a 16-year career as an investment dealer with Pitfield MacKay Ross.

He and his wife, Marilyn (Bishop), married in August 1964 and raised their two sons in Westfield, where the couple resided from 1968 until the late 1980s.

Besides his wife, his survivors include sons Ben of Grand Bay-Westfield and Gregory of Toronto; two brothers, Emery of Halifax and Paul of Rothesay; and six grandchildren.

A lifelong scouting enthusiast, Fanjoy in 2000 became the founding leader of the 61st BP Guild of Canada, a group of former scouts that carry on activities in support of the movement.

His eldest brother, Emery, remembers him as “a likeable fellow with strong views and a tremendous pride in New Brunswick” who could take on any challenge, plan a course of action and succeed at it.

Fanjoy was a past master of St. Martins Lodge No. 30, F & AM, a past president of the Saint John branch of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society and a member of the Westfield Golf and Country Club, St. Luke’s Church, St. Luke’s Choir and the Saint John Y’s Men’s Club.

His eldest brother, Emery, remembers him as “a likeable fellow with strong views and a tremendous pride in New Brunswick” who could take on any challenge, plan a course of action and succeed at it.

Fanjoy was an optimist at heart, he said, who found motivation in sharing an old quotation his father used to inspire classrooms with his political audiences: “Always aim high. Not failure, but low aim, is a crime. Aim high and you have somewhere to fall. Aim low and you fall in the gutter.”

Fanjoy, he said, had three great loves in his life.

“No. 1 was family, his wife, two kids and six grandchildren. He doted on them,” said Emery. “No. 2, genealogy, and especially the mammoth book (he helped co-author) on his Seely family ancestors. And No. 3, his political career, what he was able to accomplish in Fredericton.

“I suspect he was happiest when his grandchildren came along and he was starting to look back in life and realized he had done a lot of good. He made a lot of people happier.”

By MIKE MULLEN TELEGRAPH-J0URNAL

Published in the Telegraph-Journal on Wednesday April 30th, 2008

Harold Fanjoy co-authored, with Hap Ward, a book The Seelys of New Brunswick which is shelved at the Seelye Research Center, Abilene, KS.