Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation

Our History

Our Foundation was the brainchild of Robin Cumine, who, as Lake of Bays Association's President in 1982-84, called for volunteers to join him in making his idea of land and cultural conservancy a reality. Robin came up with his idea of establishing a charitable foundation after Royal Montgomery, also known as Doc and Roy, had suggested to his neighbour, George Daniels, then a Director of LOBA, that there should be a way that cottagers could be encouraged to donate money to protect what we value so much at the lake. George took this suggestion to Robin who, as a lawyer, proposed that LOBA establish a sister organization, in the form of a charitable foundation with the objectives of fostering land and cultural conservancy. George Daniels chaired the planning group which brought together Edwin Brezina, Robin Cumine, Jack Hanna, Douglas McTaggart, Simon Miles and Chris Yaneff. Robin did the legal work. 


On 1 October 1985, the Foundation became a legal entity, and by 23 July 1986 we were granted charitable status. Our signatory Founding Directors were Henry Adamson, Edwin Brezina, Robin Cumine, Bill Daniel, Jack Hanna, Douglas McTaggart, Simon Miles, Roy Montgomery, William Paterson, Richard Roberts, Marion White and Chris Yaneff. Bill Daniel served as our founding President. He was followed by Simon Miles, Robin Cumine, Robert Blakely, Bruce MacLellan, Mark McLean, Bruce MacLellan again, Robert Milligan, and Judith Mills. 


Our Distinguished Volunteers


Many cottagers and full-time residents have served on the Foundation Board or on committees since 1985. We are indebted to every one of them for their valuable service in helping us get to where we are today. A few of these volunteers stand out for their time and depth of contribution. One way to learn about the history of the Foundation is through their profiles of activity over time. Following are links to some of these stories. 

Lake of Bay Heritage Foundation - The Founders

Seen at the 1985 Annual Meeting, Lake of Bays Association: Members of the Steering Committee, Lake of Bays Heritage Trust Fund, left to right: Association President and member ex officio: Jack Hanna, Committee Chairman: George Daniels, Committee Members: Robin Cumine, Ed Brezina and Simon Miles.


Source: 1986 Lake of Bays Association Yearbook

Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation Logo

Our Foundation’s logo deserves a special mention too. When we launched the Foundation, we had a temporary logo that had been designed by George Daniels. However, it was agreed early on that we needed something striking. We were very fortunate to have Chris Yaneff as a founding member of our Board and as our founding Treasurer. However, he will always be remembered for his having designed our logo. Since Chris’s company was one of the foremost in Canada for corporate logo designs at the time, this was a real coup for the Foundation. One of his staff, Manfred Gotthans, was the Designer and Creative Director at the company. Fred, as he was called, was very much involved in the graphic work on our logo.  Simon Miles, then President of the Foundation, recalls that Chris and Fred wanted something that would be simple, elegant, powerful in its message, and fit easily on the head of a lapel pin. 


Chris favoured the heron over a loon, thinking that the loon had been overused by environmental groups, whereas the heron would be more obviously identified with the Foundation. The heron was very consciously portrayed as flying to the left, looking back in time, to connote our interest in our heritage. The name of the Foundation was in script below the heron. And Chris was very specific on the particular blue chosen for the logo, something we try to respect to this day. 


Of course, new boards bring new ideas. In 2005, the Board decided to make a slight change to the logo, by putting it into the rectangular frame it has today.  This modification was introduced by Jill Langford, who had joined the Board, and her husband Garry Lee. Garry ran a design company and had the assistance of a designer, Don Gilroy, in coming up with the option that the Board settled upon…the one we still have today.  


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