Tony Fry, unrelenting champion of youth dies at 87
Tony Fry is being remembered as a man with boundless energy, much of it focussed on helping youth reach their full potential.
The founder of Ray’s Place died on May 1 at the age of 87.
Back in 2008, Fry came up with a concept that would help support the local youth by helping them develop skills, work ethic and plans to attend post secondary education, either at college, university or a trade school.
With the late Jim Vandewater, a philanthropist who gave a boost to many local initiatives, the Rent-a-Youth (RAY) program was born.
A youth resource centre was set up in Creemore, offering a place to connect youth with employers offering odd jobs and giving them a quiet, safe place to do their homework.
While they were getting RAY’s Place up and running, Vandewater introduced Fry to Laurie Copeland, who became the chairperson of the organization.
She and Fry started working together and became close friends.
Fry, with his wife Catherine, bought a house in Creemore in 1996 where they spent weekends with their daughters Jay and Steph.
Copeland said Fry just dove into the community. She describes Fry as driven for the cause – the cause being youth.
Fry had a long career with the YMCA, having been the director of Canada’s largest camp before launching his own HR consulting company.
“From the beginning he never changed, he never wavered, he’s always been a champion for youth, right from his early days,” said Copeland. “He was constantly aware of what people were going through or what they needed, or what could be. He could see the potential in people and in the community and that’s what drove him.”
She said he saw his relationship to youth as reciprocal and that’s why he rejected the word mentor, because he felt he had as much to learn from the relationship.
“His whole life was about relationships,” said Copeland. “He loved learning, and every relationship for him was an opportunity to learn… He was always curious about everyone and everything. I think that’s what inspired people to want to work with him and stay connected with him.”
She said he considered many of the youth he worked with to be lifelong friends.
“He never forgot any of the youth he worked with – he remembered their names and faces and would be interested in what they were up to now,” said Copeland.
Duncan Miller is one of those youth who benefitted from Fry’s friendship.
Miller said he met Fry when he went into RAY’s Place looking for work at the age of 12 or 13.
He recalls that Fry was reluctant to find him work at such a young age, but Miller was adamant. Fry acquiesced and found him some work gardening and other odd jobs.
“He’s the type of guy who genuinely wanted to help,” said Miller.
He believes that Fry was truly altruistic and genuinely loved dedicating his time to making sure that youth had something productive to do, and that they valued their education.
Miller said Fry led by example by being a good person and caring about others.
“The world needs more people like him,” he said.
Miller said although he didn’t spend much time doing homework at the resource centre, he was drawn to the car club facilitated by Copeland’s husband, Corey Finkelstein.
When Miller was ready to go back to college and really dedicate himself to his studies, Fry made a few calls and cobbled together $1,000 to give him as a private bursary.
“It made quite an impact on me,” said Miller, who is now studying mechanical engineering at Georgian College. “There’s a good chance I wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t for him, to be honest.”
He said Fry helped to motivate him, and gave him a sense of accountability. They had kept in touch and Fry always made Miller feel like he was emotionally invested in his success.
“From what I gathered, everybody loved him,” said Miller. “He’s done so much. Simply put, he made a good impact on this world.”
In 2011, with a donation from friends Ted and Marylou Morgan, Fry arranged for the first scholarship to be given out by Ray’s Place.
Although the rent-a-youth program no longer exists, the scholarship and bursary program continues with RAYS, re-branded as Resources for Area Youth Success.
In 2023, Fry published his memoir A Pile of Words, something he was proud of, having taught himself to read while in his 60s. He said school had not been a pleasant experience for him and the underlying message in the book is one of perseverance.
Copeland and Miller both describe Fry as an ideas guy to the end. Even when he was ill, Fry would bounce ideas off his friends about another book or starting up another youth centre. He always wanted to do more.
File photo: Tony Fry (second from left) at the opening of Ray’s Place Youth Resource Centre in 2011.
