If you knew Gary, you will know that 'Gary stories' frequently involve imitating his basso voice and deeply cynical delivery, and generally begin with an impression of his Eeyore-esque moan.

When I first met Gary, a former teacher, he was running his pet project 'The Community Switchboard' at the ACT (Against Cruise Testing) for Disarmament Spadina Road office/club, 'The Fallout Shelter'. He was a huge man with a thick shock of grey hair and an infrequent (but adorable) smile, who on principle wore his few clothes until they wore out before buying new ones, and shunned transportation of any kind, walking everywhere.

No one has ever had to search far for adjectives to describe Gary Moffat. He was cantankerous, stubborn, opinionated, and difficult. He was also dedicated, caring, independent, strong, thoughtful and eager. Either way you looked at it, Gary was always ready to make a contribution to his circles and to the world at large and he did it loudly and uniquely. He was not someone to whom life happened – he was someone who jumped in and made life happen, for better or for worse.

Although in all my memories of Gary his fiercely individual character comes to the fore, where Gary’s true strength of character really showed was in his relationship to his community. I can recall having huge fights with Gary over the politics of one project or another – with him disputing the entire approach in his unique (but often-imitated) manner of fight-picking – only to have him show up to lend a hand when we needed to get something done. I remember days when Gary put more sweat into a project than the people who actually agreed with it. Through his actions he taught me a lesson in community, in how to build real solidarity that isn’t so fickle or rigid that political debate becomes a divisive principle. Gary displayed a generosity of spirit and of labour which is truly rare.