A small parkette in downtown North Bay was honoured with a plaque named after long-serving late city councillor and business owner George Maroosis. The parkette is located along Main Street West, Algonquin Avenue and Cassells Street, across the street from the late councillor’s business KBros Maroosis Art Centre and Gallery, a historic downtown art gallery, picture framing shop, and artist supply store, which he owned starting in 1976 after teaching locally for several years. It became one of the oldest private art galleries in northern Ontario. In 1980, Maroosis oversaw the Crisis Centre North Bay’s transformation from a house on King Street to its current location. He was also the founding chair of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board and was the longest-serving chair of Low Income People Involvement (LIPI) of Nipissing. Eventually, his presence downtown led to him to seek public office. Maroosis was first elected to city council in 1982 and served 24 years before deciding to step away in 2006. He decided to run again in 2010 and served another eight years before losing his bid for re-election in 2018. Social issues were at the heart of his public service. Over the decades, Maroosis chaired numerous local not-for-profit social services organizations geared towards those less fortunate. His cousin, Scott Kerrigan, told reporters that the family has had a very long presence in the city and on Main Street in particular. “George was always one for interesting conversation,” Kerrigan said. “He had a thought about lots of things and wanted to share his opinions.” The parkette was designated as the ‘George Maroosis Parkette’ by council last year. The plaque, which was unveiled Friday afternoon, tells a little bit of his family story and his love of art. “I think it’s fantastic for the community to have this space in memory of George so close to his business, being on Main Street, which is such an important location for the Maroosis family,” Kerrigan added. “The family has been looking forward to this for some time.” Mayor Peter Chirico spoke to the family, sharing a story with them about the last time he saw Maroosis, which brought a smile to his face. It was the day before his death. “We were at LIPI and I hadn’t seen George for a couple of months. He came over and in Geroge’s own inimitable way, he said, ‘Peter. I just want you to know that, surprisingly, I think you’re doing a good job’ and so and that was George encapsulated in one last conversation,” Chirico chuckled. Nicknamed ‘the Wrench’ while on council, he championed the idea of the city installing and maintaining a yellow community sharps bin. During the 2020 budget deliberation, he pushed forward a motion to reallocate $11,000 for the bin and received unanimous support from city council. Advocated ‘for people that needed help’ “George was an extreme advocate for people that needed help,” said Chirico. “I’m really pleased we dedicated this to George.” When city councillor Mike Anthony passed away in 2020 during his time in office, Maroosis agreed to fill the vacant seat. He served a total of 34 years on council over those multiple terms. In November 2019, city council voted to recognize his service with the city’s first piece of public art. Maroosis also ran as a Liberal candidate twice in provincial politics, losing to former Conservative Premier Mike Harris in 1999 and narrowly losing to then future Mayor Al McDonald in a byelection in 2002.
