Ian Alexander Naysmith, 64, of Mississauga, Ontario, died on Tuesday afternoon, May 28, 2024, with his beloved wife Elizabeth and caring family by his side, after a valiant and courageous battle with cancer. His beautiful, full, and amazing life ended too soon.

Ian was born on November 27, 1959, in Mississauga, Ontario. Loving husband and partner of Elizabeth (nee Crepeau) for 31 years. He was the proud father of Pippa (Jesse Dragojevic), Liam and Max; and loving grandfather of Sophie. Much loved son of Robert and the late Patricia Naysmith; dear brother of Kevin (Wendy Wells); and loving uncle to Spencer and Kiefer. He also leaves behind Elizabeth’s family, Dr. Jacques and Mary Crepeau, Mike and Denise Crepeau, Paul Crepeau, Caroline Crepeau and Francois Lapalme and nephews Alex and Jeremy. He will be dearly missed by all of them.

Ian started his career in the global Foreign Exchange markets in 1979 when he joined the Canadian Brokers Association. He stood out amongst his peers with his ability to consistently and successfully navigate highly complex and volatile markets with relative ease and calm. This led to his recruitment by the National Bank of Canada in 1981. Within two years, at the remarkable age of 23, he was asked to head the Bank’s foreign exchange trading operations in London, England.

After two very successful years in London, Ian’s reputation as one of the premier global Foreign Exchange traders was firmly established. He was constantly being recruited by competitive banks and in 1984 he accepted an offer to join the Royal Bank of Canada to co-head the Canadian dollar trading desk. He excelled as a fearless and inspirational leader and within two years after joining RBC, at the age of 27, he was promoted to Chief Dealer of the Foreign Exchange trading. His career at RBC included posts in Singapore as the Treasurer, South-East Asia, and in London. In 2011, after defeating his first bout of cancer, he joined CIBC where he finished his career in Hong Kong in 2021 as the bank’s Executive Managing Director of Sales.

Ian most loved being a husband and father. He married Elizabeth in 1992. He always had his broadest and most radiant smiles whenever he spoke about her. You knew that he had met his perfect partner. They commenced their lives together by moving to exotic Singapore where they started their family with Pippa. They were each other’s biggest cheerleaders and were extremely protective of one another. They were “Team Naysmith” to the end.

His enduring legacy will be that he was universally respected in his professional life and deeply loved by his family and friends. He was taken far too early and will be deeply missed by all of those who knew and loved him.

Ian’s family would like to express their sincerest thanks for the care and dedication provided by doctors Elena Elimova and Ronan McLaughlin at Princess Margaret Hospital as well as the staff at CarePartners and Doctor Hamrahi at the Dorothy Ley Hospice.