Obituary: Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney dies at 84; had suffered a fall

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, a longtime seasonal resident of Palm Beach, died Thursday, Feb. 29, at a local hospital of complications from a fall.

He was 84 years old and the husband of Mila (nee Pivnički) Mulroney.

Mr. Mulroney had faced health issues in the recent past, including treatment for prostate cancer followed by a heart procedure. His death was announced on the social media site X (formerly Twitter) by his daughter Caroline Mulroney Lapham, the president of the Treasury Board of Ontario, a sub-Cabinet government position.

“On behalf of my mother and our family, it is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th Prime Minister,” Mrs. Lapham wrote in her post.

Born Martin Brian Mulroney in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, on March 20, 1939, he was one of the six children of Canadian-Irish Catholic parents, Mary Irene (née O’Shea) and Benedict Martin Mulroney, known as Bennie. The entire family was fluent in both English and Quebecois French.

Baie-Comeau, a paper mill town on the St. Lawrence River, was built and owned by Robert McCormick, the owner-publisher of the Chicago Tribune. McCormick wanted to source his own newsprint rather than have to buy it from his Hearst rivals.

Benedict Mulroney was an electrician at the paper mill and urged his son to aspire for something better. “The way out of the paper mill is through the doors of the university,” he told him. After attending a Catholic boarding school, the intellectually gifted Brian entered St. Francis University in Nova Scotia at the age of 16.

Then-Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sits with Queen Elizabeth II in this undated photo.

It was while studying political science at St. Francis that the seeds of his political career were sown, when he was asked to join the college’s Progressive Conservatives group.

Mr. Mulroney went on to earn a law degree in 1964 from Université Laval in Quebec City and joined a Montreal law firm now known as Norton Rose Fulbright, where his lucrative career as a corporate lawyer sharpened his innate political skills.

He had a meteoric rise from local, to provincial to national office, with his wife Mila ― often described as his most effective political asset ― by his side. Mr. Mulroney met Mila when she was a bikini-clad 18-year-old at the pool of a private club in Mont Royal.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney spoke during the Palm Beach Civic Association Annual Awards Luncheon at The Breakers in 2015.

“He always talks about the bikini,” she once told a friend. “I wish he would say we met in the library.”

Mr. Mulroney served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993. He barreled into office in one of the biggest political landslides in Canadian history, yet plummeted to almost single-digit levels of approval nine years later.

“Popularity is bad for you,” Mr. Mulroney said in a 1992 campaign speech. “I try to avoid it like the plague, and I’ve been reasonably successful.”

During his tenure, Mr. Mulroney formed a close friendship with fellow conservative President Ronald Reagan. Their 1985 “Shamrock Summit in Quebec City saw the two tuxedo-clad world leaders sing “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.”

Mr. Mulroney repeated his performance more than 30 years later at a gala at the Mar-a-Lago Club, where Mr. Mulroney ― accompanied by composer/pianist David Foster ― sang the ballad, only to be upstaged by the arrival of new President Donald Trump and his first lady Melania.

He also forged a friendship with Reagan’s successor, President George H.W. Bush. He eulogized both former presidents at their funerals.

Mr. Mulroney’s actions were crucial in securing the release of South African freedom fighter, and later president, Nelson Mandela, which in turn led to the end of apartheid. Not that he would take the credit. Instead he gave it to his boss, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“When I became chairman of CHOG (Commonwealth Heads of Government) in 1987, Nelson Mandela had been languishing in a South African jail for two decades,” he told the Palm Beach Daily News in a 2022 interview. “I decided I would use the biennial meeting to make Mandela’s freedom our number-one priority, and to do it by putting sanctions on South Africa.”

At the meeting, held in Vancouver in October 1987, Mr. Mulroney found unanimous support. Almost.

“[Rajiv] Gandhi, [Lynden] Pindling, [Robert] Mugabe, they were all with me,”Mr. Mulroneyremembered. “But not Margaret.”

“Margaret” being British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who adamantly opposed sanctions because she believed they would only further the suffering of the non-white population in South Africa.

But he had a game changer — the finely honed diplomatic skills of a certain queen, who, at the 1985 CHOG meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, two years earlier, reminded attendees that apartheid was a system where a country of 4 million whites held 30 million non-whites hostage to servitude.

“When it came to the abolition of apartheid, Her Majesty was a constant and positive … a sweet, gentle but persuasive diplomat.” Because of the queen’s brilliant handling of recalcitrant statesmen, Mr. Mulroney got his sanctions, and on Feb.11, 1990, “Nelson Mandela walked out of prison into the sunshine of freedom” Mr. Mulroney said.

Two months later, apartheid ended.

Mandela himself would later say in a speech that “Canada was the key to unlock my freedom, and Brian Mulroney turned the key.”

But Mr. Mulroney thought otherwise. “It would not have happened without Her Majesty,” he said.

After leaving politics, Mr. Mulroney served on corporate boards and was chair of Quebecor Inc. and Forbes Global Business and Finance. He bought a winter home ion the North End of Palm Beach, which he had first seen on a visit to his friend Paul Desmairais.

“I fell in love with the place,” he would later say.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement saying he was “devastated” to learn of Mr. Mulroney’s death. “He never stopped working for Canadians, and he always sought to make this country an even better place to call home,” Trudeau said.

“I’ll never forget the insights he shared with me over the years — he was generous, tireless, and incredibly passionate. As we mourn his passing and keep his family and friends in our thoughts, let us also acknowledge — and celebrate — Mr. Mulroney’s role in building the modern, dynamic, and prosperous country we all know today.”

“Brian was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I ever knew,” said longtime friend Michele Kessler, an island resident. “He was a devoted husband and father and loved by everybody who knew him.”

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Mulroney is survived by his sons Ben, a Canadian television personality whose three children served as page boys at the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle; and Mark and Nicholas, both of whom work in the Toronto financial industry.

As former head of government, Mr. Mulroney will receive a state funeral in Canada. “We’re working with the family closely to ensure that all of their wishes are respected and that it be the right and fitting tribute to him,” Trudeau said.

In Mr. Mulroney’s honor, the flag on the Peace Tower on the Parliament building in Ottawa is flying at half-staff.

Plans for a Palm Beach service have not yet been announced.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Obituary: Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney dies at 84