Judge John Gomery has died at the age of 88

John H. Gomery attends a news conference in Montreal in this August 10, 2009 file photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)

MONTREAL — Retired Quebec Superior Court justice John Gomery, who presided over the sponsorship scandal inquiry, has died at the age of 88.

Born in Montreal, Gomery was a graduate of McGill University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Civil Law. He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1957, starting his career at Fasken, Martineau & Dumoulin.

Among his many contributions to the law, Gomery was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1982, serving as president of the Copyright Board of Canada from 1999 to 2005.

Gomery was part of the Canadian Bar Association and the Chambre des notaires du Québec. He was president of the Comité Général des Juges de la Cour supérieure du Québec, president of the Family Law Committee from 1983 to 1993, and was a member of the Rules of Practice Committee.

He was most notably appointed as commissioner of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, informally known as the Gomery Commission, in 2004.

The commission looked into the misuse of public funds by Jean Chrétien's Liberal government in order to promote federalism in Quebec in the wake of the 1995 referendum.

The report led to criminal charges being filed and prosecuted against several key figures in the scandal.

In 2005, the Canadian Press named Gomery Newsmaker of the Year.

He retired from the bench in 2007 at 75-years-old, the age of mandatory retirement.