LAMONT, Paul William

1957-2025

 Surrounded by the love of his family, Paul passed peacefully on Saturday, June 28, at the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

Paul was the loving husband of Chris, proud father of Jessie (Sean) and Shannon (Cory), and beaming papa to Kalen and Evelynn.  Paul is survived by sister Carol, and was a special uncle to his nieces and nephews.  Paul maintained a connection with his former spouse Dena and her family, who were a part of his life to the end.

From humble beginnings folding boxes for Canadian Tire at the age of 15, Paul became one of the youngest ever to open his own store.  Paul took his family across Canada chasing the dream, before settling in North Bay in 1994 to open the new Canadian Tire store, which at the time was the largest in Canada.

Paul put down deep roots in his new City and involved himself in many community groups and projects.  Paul and his staff donated to the local Hospital, eventually sponsoring an entire wing.  Paul was proud to see his program became a model for the Hospital to use with other organizations, increasing the donations to our Facility.  This was later expanded to further donate to the Learning Library at Nipissing University.

The Canadian Tire Junior Citizenship program was brainstormed by Paul and two teacher friends, which evolved into a 13-year program of providing pizza lunches to schools in recognition of the students’ good work in their community.

Further, Paul was appointed by the Ontario Government to be a Commissioner of the ONTC, served 3 terms on the Nipissing University Board of Directors, and was a member of the North Bay Kiwanis Club for many years.  He gave generously of his time and money to many local causes and never said no to meaningful requests for assistance.  Paul’s philosophy in life was not “why should I?”, but rather “why shouldn’t I?”

In the words of his daughter Shannon, Paul was the coolest guy we knew.  He was generous, hardworking, but always up for a good time.  He loved his Captain Morgan and coke, his family, his life on the lake, fast boats, roaring motorbikes, slick sports cars and sharing good times with friends.  He was a traveler, a social animal, an acute businessman, and a deep thinker, but mostly Paul taught us all what it means to work hard, love deeply, and live all aspects of life wide open. 

We would like to provide a special thanks to Nurse Nathalie who was our guiding angel through Paul’s illness, Dr. Jinnah for her compassionate care, and Dr. Mike Leckie for taking such care to ensure Paul’s wishes would be followed in trying circumstances.  Their gentle approach and obvious care for Paul gave the family such peace.  Thank you, thank you.

In recognition of Paul’s community work, donations in his honour to the Canadian Tire Jumpstart program would be gratefully acknowledged by the family.

Please visit jumpstart.canadiantire.ca to make your donation online, or by cheque at Martyn’s Funeral Home.

Be assured all donations stay in our community and are provided to our kids in their recreational programs.

Arrangements entrusted to the Martyn Funeral Home and online condolences may be offered at www.martynfh.com