A Brief Tribute and Commentary by Doug Draper
Posted September 16th, 2026 on Niagara At Large
Public Servant supreme George Marshall
I feel like I am doing this too much these days– opening up the obituary pages of local newspapers to the name of yet another one of the great people in our Niagara who has passed away.
This time his name was George Marshall who I can honestly say was one of the most dedicated, principled and honest people who served in municipal politics in this Niagara region in all of the more four decades I have lived and worked as a news reporter here.
I will always remember George, who passed away this September 8th, 2026 in Welland at age 80, as one of only a handful of municipal representatives at the Niagara Regional Council level who had the courage to stand up against the administration of then Regional Chair Al Caslin and what many in Niagara came to refer to as Caslin’s cabal over the shady 2016 process that led to the hiring of Carmen D’Angelo (who later resigned in dark circumstances) as the Region’s Chief Administrative Officer.
For showing that courage, George and the other seven Niagara Regional councillors who voted against hiring D’Angelo found themselves putting up with no end of grief from the majority on the council who stood behind Caslin on that controversial matter and so many others who many citizens across Niagara felt ran counter to public interests
Yet George Marshall never let all of the abuse that he and the others who stood so tall in the D’Angelo hiring matter stop him from speaking out for the interests of residents in his City of Welland and across the region.
And he always did so with strength, thoughtfulness and class.
He was an outstanding public servant who did so much in over his decades in public office to make Welland and Niagara a better place to live in, and I hope that in this coming Fall’s municipal elections, there will be at least more with his promise voted into office.
We sure do need more people like George Marshall now and voting people in to public office with his kind of dedication and principles would be an excellent way of honouring him.
R.I.P. George Marshall
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
For more on George Marshall, click on the following links –
https://obituaries.stcatharinesstandard.ca/obituary/george-marshall-1094031766
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