Longtime harness racing industry participant Robert W. Burgess passed away on July 21, 2024 in Ottawa, Ont. at the age of 87.
Bob was born in Toronto on July 9, 1937. His father, Richard, had a poultry farm at Yonge and Steeles, and in the mid-1940s he moved to the Market Square in Newmarket after purchasing a local egg grading station. From these humble beginnings and after a move to Davis Drive in the mid-1950s, ‘Burgess Better Eggs’ became Burgess Wholesale, whose blue trucks were a familiar sight around York Region and Toronto first, and later from London to Ottawa. Bob started as a salesman, a position that well suited his friendly and outgoing nature, and was vice-president and co-owner when he retired in 1986. Retirement allowed Bob to give back to the town he loved by joining the Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation. Everyone that knew Bob said that above all he was a true gentleman.
Bob married his Newmarket High School sweetheart Donna Ball in March of 1959 and they had three children. Summers were soon spent camping, with a few weeks reserved every year for Armstrong Lake in McKellar, the long-time home of Donna’s family. Later he and Donna travelled widely, and spent summers at their family cottage on Lake Manitouwabing in McKellar. Bob loved the simple things in life: mucking out the stalls in his barn every morning, visits from his children and grandchildren, family dinners, and his treasured Christmas butter tarts from Louise.
Bob was bitten by the racing bug when he was still young, following in his grandfather’s footsteps by racing pigeons. Eventually Standardbred racing became the main passion of his life as both an owner and a breeder. Bob loved going to the training barn, bringing the guys coffee and donuts, checking on the baby horses, and talking with the people in the backstretch during the races. His horses, like Noble Intent, A Fine Balance, and Coldspot, won many regular and stakes races at tracks both in Ontario and the U.S., but the highlight came in 1996 when Kawartha An Worthy won both the Ontario Jockey Club’s Trotting Mare of the Year and an O’Brien Award for Older Trotting Mare of the Year from the Canadian Trotting Association.
Bob died at Forest Valley Terrace in Ottawa on July 21, 2-1/2 years after a series of strokes. He was 87. He was predeceased by Donna and his daughter Gail (Tim Gould), and is survived by his two sons, Richard (Louise Stephens) and Mark (Pat Bush); six grandchildren, Russell, Justin, Ben, Sam, Emma, and Sara; two great grandchildren, Fiona and Alice; and those who called him grandpa, Kristen, Carter, and Jenna. He was loved and will be missed by us all.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the ALS Society of Canada or the Robarts Research team in the Schulich School of Medicine at Western University.
A Celebration of Life will be held from 12 to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25 at Roadhouse and Rose Funeral Home, 157 Main St. S., Newmarket.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Robert Burgess.