Obituary
F.E. Meredith was well remembered for his dry sense of humour and was frequently described as "the most colourful and prominent figure" on the Bar of Montreal and "one of the most eminent personalities not only in the Quebec Bar but in the whole of Canada". Arnold Heeney especially recalled the generosity of F.E. Meredith, "that grand old dandy... who would quite often have me home with him for lunch, and test me with the largest, strongest martinis I had ever known". Horst Oertel wrote An Appreciation to his friend that was published in The Times of London in 1941,
| “ | The death of Frederick Edmund Meredith K.C., D.C.L., LL.D., has removed an outstanding Canadian who combined in a rare degree fine British traditions with Canadian outlook in a new world. May I just pay a personal tribute? Few men are able to impress others by the qualities of their individuality as Meredith did. Rather serious in his outlook on things and events, yet with a charming touch of Puck and Ariel in his nature, he united the imagination of his Irish ancestry with a sense of reality, responsibility and sympathetic feeling for others to a rare degree. To help those who were in difficulties was a joy and reward to him; his friendship was unbounded. Emotional to a high degree, he never expressed a vicious thought, and I knew him intimately for nearly 30 years. He had many friends on both sides of the Atlantic, and Privy Council cases brought him frequently to London. Whoever met him felt the better for it and wished more. I imagine that there are not many men who may warm both hands at the fire of life and combine the dignity and joy of living as Fred Meredith did. | ” |
Meredith died shortly before his eightieth birthday (‘birthdays are not the kind of thing one wants to commemorate’ he once said), after an illness of several weeks. He died at his home on Pine Avenue in the Golden Square Mile shortly after eleven o’clock of that morning, predominantly of old age. Meredith's funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Montreal, and out of respect the practice division of the courts were closed for the day. The city's legal and business communities turned out in full force, and both were represented among his pall-bearers who included Sir Edward Beatty, Sir Montagu Allan, Sir Herbert Holt and Chief Justice R.A.E. Greenshields. He was buried in the Meredith plot at Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, next to his cousins, Sir Vincent Meredith and Charles Meredith and their respective wives.
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