Guthrie “represents the best of ‘old Guelph,’ ” lawyer John Valeriote said Wednesday.

Born in 1931, Guthrie graduated from Osgoode Law School, was called to the bar in 1956 and practised law in Guelph under the banner of Hungerford, Guthrie & Berry for nearly 55 years. He was a past bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, was the solicitor for the County of Wellington and served on the board of directors of numerous public and private corporations and associations. These included Blount, Linamar, Homewood, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and the Ontario Hunter Jumper Association, a horse show-jumping association.

When the start of construction to turn the Loretto convent into the new home of the Guelph Civic Museum was marked at a city hall ceremony in January, Guthrie spoke in his capacity as honorary chair of a campaign to raise $500,000 from the community towards the project’s $12.7-million budget.

Valeriote said Wednesday that he agreed to lead this museum fundraising committee only if Guthrie would be honorary chair. “I wanted that Guthrie name,” he said, but Guthrie went well beyond an honorary role.

“We understand that last week he was still making calls on our behalf to potential donors,” Guelph Museums director Katherine McCracken said Wednesday. “That speaks to his dedication to any project that he took on, and the fact that he knew everybody in this community.”

A tall man, Guthrie “had an extremely gruff and somewhat intimidating exterior,” but it took only a few minutes in his presence to realize he was actually “very, very personable and funny,” McCracken noted.

Valeriote said he was closely associated with Guthrie as a lawyer, as a fellow Homewood Health Centre board member and with other causes, such as working together for the Guelph Community Foundation. But as an avid woodworker, he also recalls going many times to Knight Lumber on a Saturday morning to buy some specialty lumber and finding Guthrie working there writing up orders at the business owned by his wife’s family. “I’d buy lumber and end up talking with him about legal issues and board issues,” Valeriote said with a chuckle.

The fact that Guthrie’s activities ranged from helping out in a lumber store to chairing Homewood’s board “shows the scope of the guy,” Valeriote said. “I knew him in various aspects of his life and mine, and he was really good at all of them.”

Ken Hammill, a former industrialist and city councillor who knew Guthrie for the past 60 years, described his friend Wednesday as “a true gentleman, very community-oriented, quite traditional in his thinking. And Hugh had great integrity.”

On the local political scene, Guthrie was a dedicated Conservative, working hard for the party and for its local candidates over the years, he said. “He had a misstep for a couple of years” as a Reform Party supporter, “but he corrected that,” Hammill added with a laugh.

Guthrie died surrounded by his family, friends and faithful dogs, according to an obituary prepared by his family this week. His wife Lorna died in 2006, and he is survived by two daughters.

He “loved musical theatre, a good dinner party and the excitement of an election campaign,” according to the obituary. “He will be remembered for his kindness, intelligence, integrity and humour.”