News

The Schulich School of Law is saddened by the loss of The Honourable David W. Gruchy, who passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, May 22, at the age of 84.

Gruchy was born in Bishop’s Falls, N.L., and raised and educated to the age of 15 in Grand Falls, after which he attended Bishop’s College School in Lennoxville, Que., and King’s College School in Windsor, N.S. In 1951 he attended the University of King’s College in Halifax, where he met Helen Elizabeth “Betty” Stayner, whom he married in 1958.

In 1954 Gruchy enrolled at Dalhousie Law School, graduating in 1957. After articling with R. Lorne MacDougall, QC, in Truro he was admitted to the Bar and began his professional career in partnership with MacDougall as Burchell, MacDougall and Gruchy. From 1958 to 1990 he practiced civil litigation and labour, municipal, and administrative law. He received his Queen’s Counsel designation in 1974 and was solicitor for the town of Truro from 1975 to 1990.

Throughout his career as a lawyer, Gruchy served as a founding member of the Truro Industrial Commission and on the Bar Counsel of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, was president of the Canadian Transportation Lawyers Association and vice-chair of the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia, and was active on various committees of the Canadian Bar Association.

In 1990 Gruchy was appointed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Trial Division, where he remained until his retirement in 2007. Following his retirement from the Bench he served on the Nova Scotia Criminal Review Board and the Nova Scotia Securities Commission and as chair of the Nova Scotia MLA Pension Review.

While living in Truro, Gruchy gave freely of his time and experience to various community groups, including the Kinsmen Club and the United Way. He will be remembered as humble and humorous, a gentleman in every way, but above all someone who could be counted on to bring his best to any challenge.

A funeral service will be held in St. James Anglican Church at the Armdale Rotary on Saturday, May 28, at 10:30 a.m., with a reception to follow in the church hall. A private internment will take place after the reception. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Kidney Foundation of Canada or the Victorian Order of Nurses.