The town of Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s is mourning the passing of a former mayor who helped found the community’s first town council in the late 1970s.
Jim Neary passed away last week at the age of 83.
The town says Neary helped found the first council in Portugal Cove, before amalgamation, in 1978 and served as both a councillor and mayor up until 1989.
They call his presence on council “transformative,” noting that he “(weaved) a legacy of progress” still felt to this day.
Flags in the town have been lowered to half-mast in his honour.
