WC’s last mayor Eastman passes at 80

KINBURN – Lifelong farmer and community leader Dwight Eastman who served as West Carleton Township’s last mayor and West Carleton-March’s first councillor following amalgamation with the City of Ottawa, passed away this morning (May 16) at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer.

Born Aug. 12, 1945, Eastman was well known throughout West Carleton not only for his community service but as well as his role as a leading fourth-generation farmer in the agricultural community in both the beef and cash crop industry.

Politically, Eastman served as a councillor and mayor of West Carleton. He served on council starting in 1991 and then as mayor from 1995 until 2000. He was elected in the 2000 Ottawa election as councillor shortly after the township amalgamated with the City of Ottawa. He served as councillor until 2003 and did not seek re-election.

“Dwight is a decent, thoughtful person,” fellow councillor Alex Munter tod the Ottawa Citizen in 2003. “He has brought an important rural perspective to council. I think he’s an extremely deft operator. He’ll start with a nice compliment to staff about a report say, then go in for the kill.” 

Eastman also ran for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1999 provincial election in Lanark-Carleton Riding losing to Conservative Norm Sterling. Eastman also served as a director on the Carleton Landowners Association as well as a member of the Mohr’s Landing/Quyon Port Authority board. While on Ottawa city council, Eastman served on the Ottawa Police Services Board.

In all his roles, Eastman was a passionate fighter for the rural voice.

Eastman grew up on a dairy farm where he told the Ottawa Citizen in 2003, he “hated milking cows.”

Eastman, who started his cow-calf operation in the Kinburn area in the 1970s under the name Century Farm, grew the operation with his sons Dwaine and Darryl to more than 1,000 acres. He still worked as a farmer living in the same home on Kinburn Side Road with his wife Donna since 1971.

Coun. Clarke Kelly shared some thoughts with the community on Eastman’s passing earlier today (May 16).

“Dwight dedicated much of his life to public service and supporting his community,” Kelly released in a statement today (May 16). “Our thoughts are with the Eastman family during this difficult time. It was only last week Dwight came to visit me. Before mentioning he was sick, he took time to talk to me generally about local issues and gave me some advice and ideas. This is a testament to his commitment to the community he lived in and served. Even knowing he was in his final days, he took some of that precious time to focus on making things better for the people of West Carleton-March. This was something he did regularly, and I always greatly appreciated the opportunity to talk to the last mayor of the township of West Carleton, and our first city councillor following amalgamation. This really gave him a unique and important perspective, and his advice and lessons were extremely valuable.”

Last Tuesday (May 13) Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Kelly visited with Eastman and proclaimed today (May 16) Dwight Eastman Day in the City of Ottawa.

“This honour helps to recognize and celebrate the many contributions he has made to our community and city,” Kelly said. “It is only coincidence that it fell on the day that he passed. Today our community lost a great man whose love and dedication for his family and community were always very plain to see. Thank you for everything Dwight, you will be greatly missed.”

Kelly also announced the Kinburn Community Centre hall will be commemoratively named the Dwight Eastman Community Hall.

While West Carleton Online publisher Jake Davies spoke with Eastman often over the last 40 years over coffee and on the telephone, we spoke to him on the record most recently in 2021, when Eastman researched his past and was presented with his United Empire Loyalist Certificate, and you can read that story here.

“And there are thousands,” Eastman told West Carleton Online in 2021. “All Eastmans in North America are all descended from Roger Eastman born in 1610 in Wiltshire, England.”

Eastman’s obituary has not been posted yet. We will share his obituary when it is.