Aviation legend Stanley Deluce dies

Father of Porter Airlines chief executive Robert Deluce

Katherine Laidlaw, National Post

A lifelong aviation aficionado whose bush charter service based in White River, Ont., would grow to one of the largest regional airlines in Canada -- and the father of Porter Airlines chief executive Robert Deluce -- died last week.

Stanley Deluce, or Stan to his friends, died in hospital on Wednesday surrounded by his family. Mr. Deluce, 86, underwent hip surgery about a month ago at Victoria Hospital in London, Ont. He never recovered after the surgery, and his condition deteriorated quickly in the last three weeks.

Mr. Deluce was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, based in Wetaskiwin, Alta., in 2007. He carried a passion for aviation through his entire life, beginning as a pilot in the Second World War with the Royal Canadian Air Force. When he returned to his hometown of Chapleau, Ont., he married his wife Angela. The two started a family and a modest charter bush flight service after buying their first airplane, a Stinson, in 1951.

As White River Air Services expanded, Mr. Deluce's business grew from a charter company to one of Canada's largest regional airlines, eventually acquiring Sault Airways, Kapuskasing Air Service and Austin Airways, and supplying planes to countries as far as Denmark and France. He also later purchased Air Manitoba and Air Ontario, which he sold, under the umbrella of Austin Airways, to Air Canada in 1987.

Robert Deluce, Porter Airlines' president and CEO, said his father instilled a love of aviation, and an entrepreneurial drive, in him and his eight siblings from birth. He says some of his fondest childhood memories were formed flying in Cessnas with his father in White River, where his parents started White River Air Services.

"I remember at an early age flying with my father, and that would be the case for most of my brothers and sisters," he said. "Well before we took any formal training, most of us would have had enough flying experience to enable most of us to get our licences."

Robert, for one, underwent his formal training at the Toronto Island Airport during high school, crediting his father for encouraging him to do so at such a young age. Seven of Stan's nine children hold different types of pilot licences.

"A good number of them have followed in his footsteps in some respects," Robert said, adding that a competitive spirit inevitably grows among so many siblings each very close in age, many of whom are involved in the aviation industry.

Described as a gregarious and adventurous man, Mr. Deluce spent summers in the later years of his life on Manitoulin

Island. He taught his grandchildren how to fish for salmon and cultivated his own interests in boating, fishing and hunting.

"Dad really loved the North. He loved the outdoors. He related well to people," Robert said. "You can see that now, with so many calls and emails and notes coming in from individuals he had encountered right from the far parts of Baffin Island, right through where he spent winters in Stuart, Fla."

Robert Deluce chuckles at the mention of his father's sense of humour, often coming at someone else's expense. "It certainly manifested itself on a regular, ongoing basis," he said.

The funeral will be held today at St. George Catholic Church, 1164 Commissioners Rd. W. in London, Ont.

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