With sadness, our family announces the passing of James (Jim) McNab Proudfoot peacefully on December 15th, 2024, in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  Jim was born on October 10th, 1936, the second of four children, to Helen (nee Owens) and Gerald Proudfoot in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Jim is predeceased by his parents, his siblings Geraldine Treuil (Pierre), John Proudfoot (Sandra) and Judith Sirkka (Don).
Jim’s father, Gerry Proudfoot, was a geologist/mining engineer who worked on the homefront in Flin Flon during the second world war.After the war, Gerry took his family to Cyprus and then on to Newfoundland  and finally Sudbury Ontario. Jim was a proud Scottish Canadian with family roots Perthshire, Scotland. 
 
The war years in the North, the expat community in Cyprus and the time in Grand Falls left a lasting impression on Jim. An avid reader, Jim enjoyed stories of the war and post war, especially books by fellow engineer, Nevil Shute. Jim was fascinated throughout his life by planes and plane spotting, often explaining how as a child they had been trained to recognize any planes they saw overhead.  The importance of useful minerals and finding them through geology became his passion and the Northern past time of canoeing his idea of an adventure. 
At the young age of 16, Jim left his adopted hometown of Grand Falls, Newfoundland to study at Acadia University in Wolfville Nova Scotia where he played varsity soccer, earned a varsity letter , and graduated with a degree in Geology. Here he met his wife, June (nee Wilson) when he got June’s attention bidding a grand slam in bridge on a train to Halifax.
 
Upon marrying August 27th, 1957, in Westville, Nova Scotia, they moved to Montreal where  Jim successfully  completed his degree in Mining Engineering at McGill University in 1958 earning his iron ring. Later, Jim completed the Registered Industrial Accounting Designation to complement his chosen profession. 
 
Jim and June had three children, Kezia, Joanne and Dawson who grew up in a series of mining towns in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Arizona. Family vacations, apart from moving, included long canoe trips in the bush.
 
Jim was active in the North American mining industry for over 65 years, an industry he was passionate about.  His career included diverse roles giving him integral insight into many aspects of the industry culminating in leading roles in a number of mining and mining contracting companies. Routinely, Jim would stop the car to check rocks and rock faces along the road, with a geologist’s hammer in the trunk at all times. 
 
June, Jim’s first wife passed away from cancer in 1991.  In 1995, Jim married Sandra Proudfoot (nee Renwick) and relocated to Woodstock Ontario. Sandra predeceased Jim in 2019.  
Jim is survived by his children Kezia Motluk (Stephen), Joanne Bent (Stephen) and Dawson Proudfoot (Julie) and his stepchildren Derek, Aisha, and Craig, fifteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren, his brother-in-law, Don, and nephews, nieces and cousins in Canada and abroad.
Honoring his request, Jim will be interred in Gairloch/St Andrew’s Cemetery Westville, Nova Scotia at a future date.  In lieu of flowers please feel free to make a donation of remembrance to the Canadian Cancer Society.