In Memorium: Deirdre G. Martin

Deirdre Martin, 52, senior counsel for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, passed away on June 21 following a battle with lung cancer. Martin acted as counsel to the IBC’s national claims committee, the standards and practices committee (which reviews and recommends revisions to IBC advisory policy wordings), the investigative services division, and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.”I know Deirdre had many friends in the insurance industry and that her work was highly respected,” IBC president Stanley Griffin said in a statement to IBC members. “The IBC family has suffered a very large loss. Deirdre will be greatly missed.”Martin came to the IBC from Commercial Union Assurance Company of Canada, where she was litigation management counsel. Before that, she was in-house counsel to real estate development companies for a number of years, where she practiced primarily civil litigation. She spent many years in private practice as a civil litigator, both in Toronto and in Ottawa.Martin’s family has requested that those wishing to make donations in Deirdre’s memory make them to the Canadian Cancer Society or to the charity of their choice. Friends will be received at the Neweduk Funeral Home, ”Mississauga Chapel,” at 1981 Dundas St. West (one block east of Erin Mills Pkwy.) from 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, and on Sunday, June 25, at 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 5440 Durie Road (south of Bristol Road, Streetsville) on Monday, June 26, 2006 at 12 noon.