St. Thomas native Bill Vigars, who led the promotion of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope in 1980, died Thursday (Oct. 10) at the age of 78.
His wife, Sherry MacDonald, confirmed the news in an interview, saying Vigars died of congestive heart failure surrounded by loved ones at a hospital in White Rock, B.C.
Vigars was the former director of public relations and fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society. He met Fox in 1980 and served as his public relations officer and confidant as the 21-year-old set out with the goal of running across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
myFM spoke with Vigars from his home in White Rock in August of 2023, just prior to the release of his tribute to Terry Fox.
The following month he returned to St. Thomas for the book launch at Lockwood Books.
Here is part of our conversation with him.
Bill Vigars once turned to Terry Fox and promised to try and make him live on forever.
The St. Thomas native has made good on that promise with his tribute, Terry & Me, The Inside Story of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope.
In April of 1980, Terry Fox set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research.
The initial response to the Marathon of Hope was slow to materialize.
That began to change when the Canadian Cancer Society assigned an individual to accompany Terry to promote and drum up support as he made his way westward into Quebec and Ontario.
That someone was Vigars.
His time on the road with this Canadian icon was the inspiration behind Terry & Me.
Vigars recalled how he had been hired by the Ontario Division of the Canadian Cancer Society to undertake fundraising and public relations.
“In April, Terry was on the road for three or four days and my boss came to me and said there is a kid who is going to run across Canada on one leg, do you want to see what you can do for him?
“And that’s how it started. It was meant to be, I guess.”
Vigars described his first impression after talking with Fox in Nova Scotia.
Vigars was living in Toronto at the time and began making arrangements for when Terry would enter Ontario.
“When you get to Ontario what do you want to do and he said I want to meet Bobby Orr, Darryl Sittler, I want to go to the CN Tower, I want to go to a Blue Jays game and I want to meet Trudeau.
“So, I said call me back tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do.
“I got on the phone and when he called back the next day, I was able to say Okay the Blue Jays are on, the CN Tower is on, Sittler is going to meet you, Bobby Orr is going to be in Europe but he’ll come and find you somewhere down the road and I can’t find Trudeau, but we did track him down.”
At 18 year of age, Bill Vigars was working at CHLO radio in St. Thomas – known on air as Bill Williams – and that training ground proved valuable far beyond what he ever could have imagined.
Vigars’ ability to wing it through any situation came in handy when Quebec Provincial Police wanted to direct Fox away from major highways.
He recounted how a call to a French-speaking friend and some stretching of the truth resolved the impasse.
The book is chock-full of wonderful insights and it didn’t take long for Vigars to ensure Terry Fox was a household name across the country.
It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes accounting of this iconic Canadian who, unfortunately, had to cut his Marathon of Hope short in Thunder Bay.
In announcing his death, The Canadian Press observed, “Vigars was by Fox’s side until the tragic end of his journey in Thunder Bay, when Fox learned the cancer that had taken his right leg had spread to his lungs. Fox died on June 28, 1981, at Royal Columbia Hospital in New Westminster, B.C.
Fox’s legacy also set the framework for the annual Terry Fox Run, that would ignite cancer research in Canada, raising more than $850 million since 1980, says the Terry Fox Foundation website.
In a Facebook post, good friend Steve Peters recounted Vigars in the following fashion: “He was born in St. Thomas, terrorized the Nuns at Holy Angels School/St. Josephs HS, would perform handstands on the top of the St. Thomas Water Tower, along with numerous other stories.”
Vigars is survived by his wife, two children, a stepson and one grandson.
He will be honoured at a private ceremony of life early next year, advised Sherry MacDonald.
You can listen to the full interview with Bill Vigars below.
