Obituary of Angus "Bill" William Smyth
It is with great sadness the family announces the passing of Bill Smyth
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Bill spent his childhood getting into all kinds of adventures and cared for animals and people he met. He graduated with a B.Comm Honors, Accounting from the University of Dalhousie (1969). He was a certified senior diver, member of the Privateers, and enjoyed teaching diving courses. He worked for the Bank of Montreal and was particularly fond of his time at the Lunenburg branch.
After being set up on a blind date in Montreal, he met his soon to be wife. The couple moved out West landing in North Vancouver BC to raise a family of three, enjoying boating, cross country skiing, swimming and racehorses.
Always an entrepreneur, beyond his accounting career he discovered a niche for servicing the movie industry. TVD was founded, for which he was the Chairman of for 16 yrs. He then realized a need for American based companies with employees in Canada and was President of OnPayroll.ca for 27 years. During that time, he started yet another company, OnPayroll.ca Canada (OPC), an employer of record company, a complimentary fit with the company's already strong aptitude in Canadian human resources. He retired 5 years ago from OPC after 20 years.
In the younger years of the family, a love for horses had the family settle on a farm in South Langley, BC. Soon his love for Black Angus cattle was realized and it wasn't long before he grew Smyth Angus Farm to over 300 head of purebred Black Angus cattle, with a focus on premium breeding stock. One of his bulls was even shipped to Hawaii. His favourite thing to do after commuting to the city for work, was to go out to the barn to scratch the girls' backs. He was adamanent about the cattle being friendly and treated that way.
Bill and Camilla spent many summers boating with friends. They enjoyed several once in a lifetime trips, notably, Cuba, Africa, Thailand, Australia and a few cruises. Bill fell in love with elephants, but Camilla kept him in Canada. Wanting to retire on the ocean Bill and Camilla fell in love with LIverpool and built their dream home on the ocean. Bill enjoyed woodworking as a hobby and being involved in the Queens Community.
Throughout his life, he volunteered a lot. He gave blood over 100 times.
He served on many boards in Canadian and American Payroll Organizations. Locally he contributed to the:
Queens Community Health Board, (2012-2014)
Queens Community Aquatic Society,Chairman (2015-2019),
South Queens Chamber of Commerce, Director and Chair (2018- ),
Queens County Transit Society, Founding Director and Chair (2018- ).
Recipient of a Provincial award in 2023 from the Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network. He was passionate about advocating for, securing funding and assisting in the creation of services to support the Queens community.
He is survived by his sister, Kim, his wife of 54 years, Camila, daughters Natasha & Angela, son, Geordie(Kyla) and their four children, Hunter, Lennox, Xander and only granddaughter Liv. Bill's love for his family, friends and animals as well as his candid humour, will live on forever.
A remembrance gathering will be held at Mersey Point Community Hall, 628 Shore Rd, Liverpool, NS on December 19, 2025, from 3-6pm. Refreshments served.
Donations in his honour can be made to: Queens County Transit Society, Queens General Hospital, NS or Red Cross Canada, which he supported himself.