A funeral will be held Thursday afternoon for the Taber family, from Toronto’s Riverdale community, who were killed in a cottage fire early Christmas Eve on Stoney Lake near McCracken’s Landing.
The funeral will be held Thursday at St. Paul’s Bloor Street Church, 227 Bloor St. E. in Toronto.
Clifford Skarstedt/Postmedia NetworkPhotos adorn a tree in memory of the victims of a fatal fire that claimed the lives of four members of a family Christmas Eve.Toronto lawyers Geoff Taber and Jackie Gardner and their sons, 15-year-old Scott and 13-year-old Andrew, died in the deadly blaze.
Visitation is Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at Vaughan Estate, 2075 Bayview Ave.
Donations in the Taber family memory are being requested to the United Way of Toronto, or to an animal shelter or pet rescue centre.
Humphrey Funeral Home in Toronto is handling the arrangements and is asking that condolences, photographs and memories be posted here.
The fire on Hamilton Drive North claimed the lives of Geoff Taber, 56, his wife Jacquie Gardner, 47, and their sons Scott, 15, and Andrew, 13. Their two dogs also perished in the blaze.
The blaze burned the cottage to the ground, with only the chimney and debris left standing.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Office of the Fire Marshal, but Peterborough County OPP say answers could take weeks.
Members of the Riverdale community held a candlelight vigil for the family on New Year’s Eve night at Withrow Park, where the family had spent hours walking their dogs, skating and playing ball hockey over the years.
Geoff Taber was a partner with the Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt law firm in Toronto, a corporate and securities lawyer specializing in emergency technology companies.
He was born and raised in New York City and graduated from Princeton University in 1982 and then went to law school at the University of Toronto.
He was an avid cyclist who co-founded a cycling group which tours the Beaches area of Toronto at 6:30 a.m. every morning, carrying on a passion developed from going cycling with his father Gerry in New York’s Central Park.
He married Jacquie Gardner in 2000. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, she was a lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and later with Altamira Investment Services.
She later set her career aside to help raise their boys and volunteer at Toronto East General Hospital, Frankland Community School and Montcrest School.
Scott was a high school student at Greenwood College School and a graduate of Montcrest and Frankland Community elementary schools. He was a player with the Forest Hill Minor Midget A hockey team and his father was the team’s manager. The team is planning a tribute to the family at their next game Jan. 10 at the Forest Hill Arena.
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He was a fan of the Green Bay Packers and Tottenham Hotspur and had even attended a Premier League Football game in London with his father last March.
Andrew was a student at Montcrest and enjoyed many sports. He was a member of the Toronto Minor Bantam AAA Titans hockey team. His teammates held a memorial service prior to their game on Tuesday at the Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic Tournament and dedicated their game to the Taber brothers.
The family’s favourite place was their cottage on Stoney Lake where they spent time water skiing on the lake.
The family also attended St. Peter’s-on-the-Rock Church, the unique historic church for summer cottagers located on an island on Stoney Lake.