Well known writer, farmer, computer expert, newspaper editor, wit and humanitarian died June 25th in his 82nd year

John Ewart image: Island Deaths

It makes me profoundly sad to write about the passing of an old friend John Ewart who died on Friday.

Everyone who knew John Ewart can tell you stories about him. He was a great guy who pretended to be tight with the penny but had great generosity of the spirit.

John was well liked by everyone he met. His sense of humor and intelligence were unforgettable as was his desire to help others.

I will try to give you my remembrance of John. If any facts are confused, feel free to correct them. They are based only my memory of John’s numerous stories from the countless hours we spent together.

He was born in Montreal and had a Montrealer’s sensibility about many things.  Montrealer’s have the duality of English and French along with a wonderful internationalism from the many immigrant communities that share the city. I had lived there for 9 years so when we met there was an instant affinity for shared experiences.

His early career was spent working for IBM where he originally sold IBM time clocks. Eventually he became one of their top computer sales people. He told me sales was all about getting to the president or the owner. You had to get past the secretary who’s job it was to act as gatekeeper for the boss. He would then regale me with stories about the many sales encounters he had in Montreal and Ottawa.

When IBM sold one of its first new mainframes in Canada, John got the sale. The equipment was so new there was no operating system or program. IBM sent one of their top people from the States up to the customer in Ottawa where he and John made the computer do what John had sold the customer.

Later he quit IBM and moved his family to a country farm in the Ottawa Valley. His wife Doris writes affectionately and with great wit about that in her book. John thought farming was a great way of life for his family. Doris tells a slightly different story about their adventures that will tickle your ribs.

John then sold the farm and moved his family to another dairy farm in Ebenezer, PEI which didn’t quite work out as a long term venture. The move did ground the family on PEI. After sometime, John sold the Ebenezer farm and was working as a computer and business consultant for FBDB CASE.

In 1984 I wanted to grow Island Computer from a Montague based computer service firm to selling IBM PC’s. I attended a CASE seminar where they promised to mentor young business people with an experienced business person. Luckily for me that person was the ex-IBM salesman John Ewart.

John told me flat out he had never seen an accountant who could sell anything. I set out to prove him wrong. For one year we traveled all over PEI trying to sell IBM PC’s to businesses. We weren’t very good or it might have been too early for PC’s in business for we sold nothing. We did, however, form a bond of friendship that lasted for decades. I can still remember some of the jokes he told me and laugh at them.

The lessons John taught me worked. He stopped helping me in December of 2005 and within a month I sold the first computer system to a Campbell’s Concrete and then another to Sterns Laundry. Both of those businesses were ones that John had sold but I closed. He taught me how to qualify a prospect, spec out business needs to see what they wanted, put together a system and to close the deal.

Whatever John taught me it worked. Island Computer went on to be the largest computer company on PEI for more than a decade. We grew 300% each year in the early days. We won US and Canadian sales awards based on the tiny population of PEI. I was forever grateful to John for his guidance and friendship.

I tried many times to get John to work with me again but he liked teaching small business accounting rather than the high pressure world of computer sales. He said I had big dreams that were too much work and advised me to think small. Obviously I didn’t listen to his advice all the time.

My big dreams and spending habits offended John’s prudent Scott sensibilities. His move to PEI was predicated on the ability to farm more land at a lower cost. His house was purchased because he thought it would be lower in cost near the airport. No one would want a house at the end of the runway he said impishly. He was constantly telling me to mend my spending ways which made us both laugh.  John knew how to buy the lowest priced new car in Charlottetown and the stories of how he did it were funny in his telling.

A decade of crazy business growth ended when I retired in 1999. Almost immediately we ran into each other and shared many good times. I wrote for him when he was the volunteer editor of the Voice for Island Seniors. The roles never changed. I was the brash, impulsive one who needed his humorous and gentle guidance.

Everyone who read the Voice for Seniors remembers John’s witty, sardonic and gentle sarcasm in the monthly columns. What people didn’t see was the days of pushing writers for their stories, editing and negotiations with the Editor Gary MacDougall. John volunteered his services for no pay.

I wanted the paper to carry more stories about people with disabilities. John knew MacDougall didn’t agree so he toned me down. Only 8 years ago, the disabled were rarely heard of on PEI. I would pitch story ideas to John at Cora’s restaurant on Queen Street. Sometimes I won and sometimes I’d lose.

John took up sailing and gave me a standing offer to accompany him on day sails which we did only once. He was passionate about sailing and became a regular at Peake’s when his boat was in the water.

The last story I pitched to John was the Fredericton ECMA coverage with three stories for a press pass. No money, no expenses, just a press pass. It was a battle but he got the pass from MacDougall. I wrote the stories and it was the last work I did for John. He was retiring from the paper and I didn’t want to work for anyone else. I just noticed the Voice for Island Seniors is not published by the Guardian anymore. They needed John to keep it going is my guess.

We met a few times after that for coffee. And now he is gone.

Island Deaths