If the daughters of Tom Beynon, BSc’65 (mechanical) had only two words to describe their father, it would be “gentle giant.”
But they have a lot more to say than that.
Their dad had a full life and a full heart, says Michaela Beynon, Sc’11, MSc’13, who idolized him growing up.
Michaela, daughter Natasha Beynon, and son Adrian were by their father’s side when he passed away peacefully two weeks shy of his 82nd birthday in June 2023.
“He was just so giving. He did everything in his power to make things happen for anyone who crossed his path,” Michaela says.
That included his football teammates at Queen’s and in the Canadian Football League, his colleagues and clients during a 40-plus-year career in law and business, his community of Waterloo, Ont., and his wife, Gail Lockyer, and family.
“Big boy” are two other words his kids use to describe him – a phrase that suited him well as a star offensive lineman for his high school football team in Waterloo and later at Queen’s.
Life as a Gael
Their father arrived at Queen’s in 1961 to begin a degree in mechanical engineering. He thought he would join the Gaels right away, but one of his professors dissuaded him.
“Dad used to tell this story,” remembers Natasha. “In one of his first classes at Queen’s, this engineering prof said, ‘Look to the person to your right, look to the person to your left. Only one of you will graduate.’”
That scared the young lad enough to hang up the cleats – at least until his third year, when he thought he could balance the rigours of academic and athletic life.
He went on to make a name for himself on the Gaels offensive line and help win two Yates Cups, presented annually to Ontario’s top university football team.
But he didn’t usually talk too much about his football days at Queen’s, say his daughters.
[Queen's] gave him that family away from home, and he had friends from Queen’s to the last day of his life. He was definitely a Gael through and through. He loved Queen’s.
“I think it was just the Queen’s community in general that was more important than anything else when it came to the school,” says Michaela.
“It gave him that family away from home, and he had friends from Queen’s to the last day of his life. He was definitely a Gael through and through. He loved Queen’s.”
He also didn’t want to be known as a jock, says Natasha. “He loved football, but he wanted to be known as an academic, and he used sports as a way to do that.”
Journey to the Grey Cup
Take his decision in 1965 to enter the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft and accept an offer from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Ticats). It was all about funding a law degree at the University of Western Ontario that he would complete at the same time as playing professional football.
It didn’t quite work out as planned, however. Mr. Beynon never played for the Ticats, and by the end of his first year in law school he was out of money.
He was ever the problem-solver, though. When the Ticats traded him to the Regina-based Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1966, he decided to report to the team until late September. That’s when he would have enough funds to quit football and go back to law school at Western.
But, another problem: the Roughriders were winning. Mr. Beynon was torn about his secret plan and told a teammate about it. Unexpectedly, that confession led to an offer to transfer to law school at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon (apparently the dean was a huge Roughriders fan). He took the offer and commuted the three hours back and forth between Regina and Saskatoon until he had his law degree.
Mr. Beynon ended up winning the Grey Cup in 1966 with the Roughriders and played in it again in 1967. In 1968, he was traded to the Ottawa Rough Riders, where he won another Grey Cup that year and a third in 1969 – all while articling at a law firm in the capital.
He never said ‘no, the man didn’t need sleep. So, I hope he’s resting peacefully now because he deserves it.
A career in law
The whole CFL–law school ordeal was typical Dad, say his daughters. “He was the most calm, cool, collected human,” says Michaela. “It was always ‘If there’s a will, there’s a way.’”
That kind of stoic problem-solving would serve Mr. Beynon well as a lawyer specializing in corporate, business, technology, and intellectual property law. He was a partner at Gowling & Henderson and McCarter Grespan Beynon Weir, and also practised at Sims Clement Eastman.
He was passionate about the tech startup scene as well. He became the president and CEO of Waterloo Micro Systems in 1986 and later co-founded two startup support organizations in Kitchener and Waterloo – Communitech and Accelerator Centre. At Queen’s, he was a director and vice-chair of PARTEQ Innovations, a not-for-profit that supported Queen’s researchers in marketing their inventions (it’s now part of Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation).
“He also fully and firmly believed in education,” says Natasha. “He always wanted to learn.”
That included regular guest lecturing gigs at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, taking corporate courses at Harvard University, and, at 65, getting his master’s degree of law in intellectual property at York University.
Yet, as full as his working and academic life was, he had a full life outside of it, too, say his daughters.
A legacy of community
He was an avid golfer, skier, sailor, and Baskin-Robbins aficionado. He also served on various boards, including the Grand River Hospital’s in Kitchener, and was on the founding committee of Hospice Waterloo Region, where he spent his final days.
But he always made time for Natasha, Michaela, and Adrian, whether that meant showing up for dance recitals, basketball games, equestrian competitions, or ski trips to Collingwood, Ont.
“He never said ‘no,’” says Michaela. “The man didn’t need sleep. So, I hope he’s resting peacefully now because he deserves it.”
She also hopes his legacy of being an intelligent, caring human lives on. “He cared so much about those different communities he was part of in his life. He loved Queen’s, he loved the Waterloo community, his work community. So, I hope people remember him for his love and passion for making all those communities better.”
Natasha wishes for the same. “He had such a huge heart, and his message was always that the world is your oyster. There’s never something that’s not within your reach. You just might have to work a little harder to get there. And he did that.”
