Ron Doyle, landlord behind Kitchener's Better Tent City, did what 'nobody else was doing'
Doyle died at home March 15, says an online obituary
A private funeral mass will be held Saturday for Ron Doyle, the local business leader and landlord behind Kitchener's Better Tent City, who died this week at 69.
Doyle is described in an online obituary as a "passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist," who spent much of his career running Alloy Casting Industries Limited in New Hamburg.
In the past year, Doyle became known as the landlord of Kitchener's Better Tent City, a community of cabins and tents for people facing homelessness.
Asked why he decided to offer his property for the project, Doyle said he felt it was important to "do what nobody else was doing."
"I hate competition, so I don't compete," Doyle said in a December interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.
"There's no competition helping somebody that's sleeping in a storefront or on the sidewalk. So I find that an attractive thing to go do something about, I suppose, because nobody else will."
Doyle remained active with the Better Tent City project following a cancer diagnosis last year.
"I haven't adjusted anything except I eat more candy now," he told CBC.
Doyle died at home peacefully with his family, according to online obituary. He is remembered as a husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, the obituary said.
"Uncle Ron will be fondly remembered by his many nieces, nephews and their families," the obituary said.