Remembering Fred Hyndman

Fred Hyndman died a few days ago, news I was sad to receive, as I had great admiration for him as a businessman, philanthropist, and raconteur.Back in the summer of 2019 I was invited to join John Robinson, Fred Hyndman, Alan Holman and Keith Piggott one week for coffee at Casa Mia, a special guest star, of sorts, at the weekly meeting of group of esteemed men that I had no business among. It was thrilling: the collective wisdom and connections of those four was a rare thing to be invited to sit among. I’m happy for the memory.Through Hyndman & Company, the company founded in 1872 that he inherited and expanded, Fred was my insurance broker for almost 30 years, but I saw him most often at parties Catherine Hennessey’s, where he and his wife Shirley were frequent guests. (We also shared a habit of grocery shopping at Sobeys on Saturday nights.)My enduring memory of Fred, though, came during my time as Executive Director of the L.M. Montgomery Land Trust. The Trust was fundraising in…