Eight Bells: John Muir

Prominent yachtie John Boyd Muir, 73, died April 11, 2025 in Toronto, Ont. If you were on an open body of water, particularly in challenging conditions, you wanted John by your side. A competitive swimmer in his youth, John’s lifelong passion was sailing.

He was equaling adept at trapezing off the side of a Flying Dutchman screaming along on a broad reach, shimming up the mast of an International Eight Metre in a squall to clear a spinnaker, and captaining the boat guiding his sister’s swim across Lake Ontario. When a 54-footer started going down off the coast of North Carolina after its hull cracked open, John  knew what to do and got it done.

In the early 1970s, John secured the Canadian rights to sell Windsurfers. Within a few years, he was selling more Windsurfers per capita in Canada than were being sold almost anywhere else in the world. In 1977, John hosted the Windsurfer North American Championship on Georgian Bay.

Over the last few decades, John developed many friendships in the U.S. John was particularly proud of work he did with organizations to help people with disabilities and disadvantaged children experience the joy of sailing, including American Disabilities Foundation, Inc., Winterfest Boat Parade, Marine Corps Toys for Tots, and Grace Center Street Art Regatta.

John fought cancer with courage and determination, and his family is grateful for the tremendous support John received from his many friends, and from the dedicated and caring doctors, nurses, and other support workers at Mount Sinai Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital, and Toronto Western Hospital. Donations are encouraged to one of these world-class hospitals in John’s memory, or supporting one of the organizations with which John was involved.

John was predeceased by his father Jack, his mother June, and his brother James, and is survived by his siblings Kathleen Young (Paul), Tom Muir (Patricia), June Ntazinda (Franco), and Jocelyn Saunders (Blair), his sister-in-law Mary Muir, and his nieces and nephews Emma (Alex) & Graham (Alona), Lauren (Shaun) & Christopher, Mutesi (Wesley) & Musinga, KiT & Jennie, and Brooke (Justin) & Brett. John also leaves behind many extraordinary friends.

Source: https://www.cardinalfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/mr-john-boyd-muir/