The Big Carrot has lost a dear friend and member. Patrick Conner died of cancer on Friday, December 7, 2012. As a long time resident of the Danforth and Big Carrot shopper, Patrick began his Big Carrot adventure seven years ago. A true renaissance man, Patrick could excel at any role asked of him at the store: cashier, cash office manager, Human Resources. Patrick thrived in our co-operative workplace and was a generous contributor to many committees including chairing the Standards Committee, our local BIA, serving on the Carrot Cache Board as well as The Big Carrot Board of Directors. He was an excellent ambassador for the store- eloquent, passionate and so very clever. He built partnerships easily and was a champion of people and innovative ideas. He was a man of vision, as bold and brilliant as his colorful array of pants and jaunty fedoras, and his influence is apparent throughout The Carrot and our co-op. Our beautiful Green Roof is the most recent example of his willingness to say "yes", lend his effort to a vision and help make it a reality. He was generous of spirit, always eager to listen and support our staff, members and partners: he was instrumental in our continued support of education and outreach events such as The Guelph Organic Conference and The Canadian Organic Growers: Toronto Consumer Conference. He gave of himself: never missed a Christmas party, fundraiser or opportunity to celebrate our diverse community. His creative mind brimmed with potential projects and solutions. He was astute, insightful and deeply committed to creating a better food system, free of GMOs. He worked tirelessly with CBAN and The Non-GMO Project to raise awareness and support for these organizations and our shared mission. He served on the Non-GMO Project Board of Directors for several years and anchored our store's commitment to this essential work. We grieve his loss, we celebrate his inspired, rich life and we honour his memory through our continued commitment to a non-GMO future. A memorial is being planned for January. To see more beautiful photos of Patrick visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheBigCarrotNaturalFoodMarket