Educator remembered as strong community supporter

Journal Staff Flags flew at half-mast at public school all across the district last week to honour teacher and union leader Ron Rivait, who lost a brief battle to cancer on Sept. 22.

Journal Staff

Flags flew at half-mast at public school all across the district last week to honour teacher and union leader Ron Rivait, who lost a brief battle to cancer on Sept. 22.

Rivait was a lifelong teacher, community leader and friend who had a positive impact on his students and those around him, said Jim Costello, education director of the Lambton Kent District School Board.

Rivait was local president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario the past nine years and serviced on the board at Lambton College, Sarnia & District Labour Council, Liver Foundation, Sarnia Pacers and Noelle’s Gift to Children. He was a Sarnia boy “through and through,” said Lambton Kent vice-president Laurel Liddicoat-Newton.

“Ron was a man of great integrity who could take a stand and fight tenaciously for what he believed was right while, at the same time, treating everyone around him with dignity and respect.”