Correction: This article has been edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Lincoln Alexander met Marni Beal in 2001.

Lincoln Alexander had tears in his eyes, touched by the emotional farewell, the kind words and the two standing ovations.

“I feel so sad at this particular time,” he said in his Zeus-like baritone.

That day marked an end for the man who commanded one and all to “call me Linc.”

That goodbye was more than 30 years ago, when he retired his Hamilton West seat in the House of Commons, having been the first black Canadian to serve as MP, and a cabinet minister.

He was closing in on 60.

And Linc had a few things left to do, like live another three decades, see three schools, a police station and expressway named after him, receive six honorary degrees and dozens of other honours ranging from the Order of Canada to the National Order of the Lion from Senegal.

And there was Brian Mulroney’s invitation in 1985 to become Ontario’s lieutenant-governor.

“This will be the best appointment you’ll ever make,” Linc told the Prime Minister on the phone, bringing deep laughter from the two foghorn-voiced men.

He often employed boastful humour, but the quip was not without prescience. Not only was he the first visible minority to serve in the post, but perhaps the most beloved Queen’s vice-regal in the 145-year history of the office.

No, when Lincoln MacCauley Alexander left Parliament Hill in the spring of 1980 he did not leave the stage. His stature only grew as he became the closest thing to homegrown royalty Ontario has ever had.

But leave Linc finally did, dying at 90 years old today.

Lt. Gov. David Onley’s statement

He has beaten lung cancer, experienced heart failure, and had circulatory and back issues. This spring he had advanced surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm in his abdomen at Hamilton General Hospital.

While he lamented that his friends kept dying on him, he once said he hoped to live to 100.

Linc lost his wife of 50 years, Yvonne, in 1999. He married Marni Beal last year. He leaves behind a son, Keith, daughter-in-law, Joyce, and grandchildren, Erika and Marissa.

His mother was born in Jamaica, his father in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Linc was born in Toronto on Jan. 21, 1922 and as a teenager lived for three years in the Bronx.

Many places could lay claim to the man; his name adorns buildings in places such as Ajax, Mississauga, and Orillia, he served as Chancellor of the University of Guelph, and as lieutenant-governor presided over the province.

But his heart always belonged to one place: Hamilton. He never stopped professing his love for the city where he grew as a man, a public figure and icon, and that delivered Linc to his beloved Yvonne.

He lived most of his life in a stately home in the east end on Proctor Boulevard. In 2006, he was named the Greatest Hamiltonian Ever in a Spectator poll, an achievement he noted with pride to conclude his autobiography.

“It’s the greatest city in the world,” he once said. “It’s all about the people. I have great faith in them. They are a strong and resilient people.”

There was another place that had great influence on his life: Africa. He and Yvonne went on a tour of 23 countries on the continent in 1960, when Linc was 38. He was already a trailblazer, working as a lawyer in Hamilton — one of the first black lawyers in Ontario — but the African trip awakened him to even greater possibilities.

The trip was, he wrote in his book, a journey of self-awareness.

“I became conscious of my blackness…I had come from a white world. In Africa I was a black man and I was somebody. I started standing tall.”

His parents had been of a generation that rarely had a chance to stand tall. His father, also named Lincoln, was a carpenter by trade but worked as a railway porter. His mother, Mae Rose Royale, was a maid. (She called him “Linnie.”) He had a younger brother, Hughie.

His father, Lincoln — “Big Alex” — was an imposing man physically. As a boy Linc — “Little Alex” — had great respect for him, but it didn’t last. Linc witnessed his father hit his mother when she announced she was leaving him over his infidelity. (“I recall screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy! Don’t hit her!’”)

He left Toronto to live with his mother in New York for three years before she sent him home to volunteer for service in World War II.

Mae Rose was his hero, and he spent the rest of his life trying to do his mother proud — to be somebody. He achieved that much even as a young man, earning his B.A. from McMaster, law degree from Osgoode Hall, and serving as a wireless operator in the Canadian Air Force.

He never stopped following her advice to get a solid education. One of her exhortations became the title of his memoir, written with author Herb Shoveller: Go To School, You’re A Little Black Boy.

His mother died young, in 1948, at 49, in Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital after suffering from dementia.

His father committed suicide four years later; Linc believed it was because he had finally come to terms with breaking apart their family. He told The Spectator he never could erase from his mind the vision of his father lying in the casket, a mark around his neck where the rope had tightened.

As a young man, Linc first spotted Yvonne Harrison at a dance in Toronto. She was from Hamilton, and her father, too, had been a railway porter. Linc considered her an “untouchable” because of her grace and beauty. (“Who the hell is that?” he said upon seeing her.)

It was his pursuit of Yvonne that brought him to Hamilton. He eventually worked for a law firm in the city before entering politics, running as a Conservative in Hamilton West. He lost in 1965 and won in 1968, bucking the Liberals’ Trudeaumania tide. John Diefenbaker made him his seatmate in the House of Commons.

Linc was a bold voice in the legislature, accusing the Liberals of “flim-flammery” in their dealings and “bamboozling” the public.

But the post for which he would become best known was his six years as lieutenant-governor of Ontario. As vice-regal he visited 672 communities, held 675 receptions, received about 75,000 guests, attended 4,000 engagements, visited 230 schools and shook nearly 240,000 hands.

His tenure set the tone for how he would be viewed the rest of his life, elevating him to the status of living monument.

Linc lent his name to myriad causes, attending numerous fundraisers and testimonials — some of them in his own honour.

He joked about rubbing elbows with “big shots” at receptions. And yet, with his big voice, standing 6-foot-3 (and-change), decked-out in his tux, polished size-14 shoes (shoes were the first things Yvonne said she would notice in a man), and monogrammed shirts with French cuffs, he was always the biggest shot in the room. Untouchable, even.

While he seemed to exist above the political fray, Linc remained a committed small and large-c conservative the rest of his life. He was even an unabashed George W. Bush man: “My friends say, ‘Are you nuts? That guy will ruin the world.’ I said, they need a guy like him, a gunslinger.”

The titles and honours never stopped coming. Having the new east-west Mountain thruway named the Lincoln M. Alexander Expressway — which quickly became, simply, The Linc — seemed to delight him as much as any testimonial although he never learned to drive.

He certainly never needed his own car, chauffeured as he usually was; a man with regal bearing who could blend easily with British royalty, even as he was beloved for his common touch. “He’s a great guy,” his driver once said. “Do anything for you. Guys like him, they shouldn’t get old.”

He greeted a writer from the Spectator for an interview bare-chested one morning, in the middle of dressing for a funeral he was to attend that day. He sprinkled his conversation with salty language, and near the end of his life he could be found around town driving his motorized scooter, stopping to chat with one and all.

“He reaches out to everyone, gives everyone a lift who meets him,” said Rev. Dr. Francis Chisholm, who presided over Linc’s instalment as lieutenant-governor. “The openness, the casual manner, everyone is drawn to him. That was the Lincoln touch. He was a genius; had a genius for friendship and service to his country.”

Linc was a shattered man after losing Yvonne in 1999 to Alzheimer’s. A man of deep faith, but one who grew apart from formal religion, he wrote in his book that he cursed God at the time: “I asked him what the hell was going on, taking my wife. He had let me down…Within two days I settled down and was thankful he had taken her.”

Eleven years later, he said that he had been “smitten” upon meeting Marni Beal, a woman 30 years younger. Spectator columnist Jeff Mahoney wrote: “Marni is white. Linc is black…. She grew up when Hogan’s Heroes was on TV. He fought in the actual war.”

Linc said he figured there was “no way an old codger like me could attract someone as lovely and intelligent as Marni. But she fell for my baloney.”

For health reasons he sold his house and moved to a retirement home, his spacious room across the hall from — what else? — The Lincoln Alexander Lounge.

He had lived 48 years in the house on Proctor Boulevard, thus defying the original deed on the place, which had stated that “no Jews, blacks or foreigners” be permitted to live there.

Race and racism never stopped being a central focus of his life, even as Linc ultimately transcended it. He chaired the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and received its award for Lifetime Achievement.

“He is a man who claimed his space in our society and became an inspiration for others to follow,” said Evelyn Myrie, chair of the Hamilton Black History Committee. “He represented the spirit of hope. He was seen as a man of the people.”

At a swanky dinner in Toronto to mark his 80th birthday, Linc tweaked the “heavy hitters” from politics and business gathered in his honour: “We have lost much in this country because of racism. Some of you know what I am talking about because you’re from the old school.”

And yet Linc was no ideologue on the issue. He insisted in 1990 that Canada was “not a racist society” and his was a moderate voice when the Civil War-era musical Showboat came to Toronto amidst calls to ban it for promoting racist stereotypes. Linc urged organizers to listen to the black community but did not support a ban.

He told a Hamilton high school, in 1972: “I’m proud of being black, but my role in Canada is to serve all the people. I’m a Canadian. Period.”

When journalists interviewed him he talked of the “fist mentality” he had growing up and told two stories about racial hurdles he encountered. One was after he graduated from McMaster and was turned down for a white collar job at Stelco, he said, because the company said they didn’t want a black man’s face front and centre.

The other was when his law school dean made a crack to the class about “looking for a nigger in a woodpile.” Linc did not reflexively look for confrontation, and yet that day he stood up, as one of only two blacks in the class.

“You can’t say that, dean,” he said.

“Everyone says it.”

“But you’re the dean, you can’t say it.”

Linc thought his bold move would mean the end of his law career, instead he finished in the top quarter of his class.

Unlike Linc’s namesake father, his was the first generation of blacks who were not automatically consigned to service jobs, who stepped out and up and cut a reputation to which other blacks could aspire, suggested Evelyn Auchinvole, church historian at Stewart Memorial Church.

In that sense, Linc’s passing is the end of an era, she said, the last of Hamiltonians such as Olympian Ray Lewis, and bluesman Jackie Washington, who showed the way for blacks to break the old barriers.

Linc spoke at a funeral service for Jackie, who had been two years older. It was held at Stewart Memorial Church, which was founded by a group who had escaped slavery in the U.S. through the Underground Railroad.

He spoke with no notes, the audience in the palm of his large hand.

“As we climb the mountain very few people leave their footprints, but Jackie did,” he said. “He was able to change a lot of people’s minds about black people. When I think of Jackie, I think of Joshua at the battle of Jericho: and the walls came tumbling down.”

A few years ago, Linc reunited one last time with the church choir for the unveiling of a heritage plaque. He had been a parishioner years ago at Stewart Memorial, and sang in the choir in the 50s and early 60s. He always had a beautiful singing voice.

He dusted off the pipes and boomed a couple of Negro spirituals; Tramp Along, and Walk Together Children.

It had been years since the choir had heard a sound like that among them. They had a true bass again, for one day, and it was heavenly, the big man hauling up the old notes from deep inside, from a sacred place close to his heart:

Sing together children, don’ you get weary

Sing together children, don’ you get weary

Oh, shout together children, don’t you get weary

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

Lincoln Alexander: A life in brief

Formal title: Colonel The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander, PC, CC, K St. J, O. Ont, CD, QC, BA, LL. B, LL. D (Hon), D.S. Litt. (Hon.)

Familiar title: Linc

Timeline

1922: Lincoln MacCauley Alexander born in Toronto Jan. 21 to Mae Rose and Lincoln Alexander, Sr.

1942-1945: Corporal in Royal Canadian Air Force.

1948: marries Yvonne Harrison.

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1949: their only child, Keith, is born.

1949: graduates from McMaster University with BA in history and political economy

1953: called to the bar after graduating Osgoode Hall Law School.

1963-79 Partner in law firm of Millar, Alexander, Tokiwa and Isaacs

1968: elected Progressive Conservative MP for Hamilton West, re-elected four times, retiring from politics in 1980.

1979: appointed Minister of Labour under Prime Minister Joe Clark.

1980: appointed Chairman of the Workers' Compensation Board of Ontario

1985: appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, serving until 1991.

1991: appointed chancellor, University of Guelph, serving until March 2007, continuing as chancellor emeritus.

1996 to 2003: Appointed chairman, Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

1999: Yvonne dies.

2001: Gala to celebrate 80th birthday and raise funds for minority scholarships.

2006: Publishes autobiography “Go To School, You’re A Little Black Boy”

2006: Voted greatest Hamiltonian ever in Hamilton Spectator survey

2011: Announces engagement to Marni Beal

2012: Has surgery to repair ruptured aneurysm in his abdomen

Selected honours:

Recipient of honorary doctorates from six universities: Toronto (1986), McMaster (1987), Western Ontario (1988), York (1990), Royal Military College (1991) and Queen’s (1992)

1982: Man of the Year Award from Ethnic Press Council of Canada

1982: McMaster Distinguished Alumni Award

1984: Caribana Cultural Committee, Cultural Achievement Award

1985: Diefenbaker Memorial Foundation Award.

1985: Appointed to The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem:

1986: Humanitarian Award from Beth Sholom Brotherhood

1986: Honouree of the Year, Hamilton Negev Dinner, Jewish National Fund of Canada

1989: Honorary Chief of Police, Metropolitan Toronto Police

1990: Knight of The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem

1990: Armenian Community Centre of Toronto Outstanding Canadian Award

1992: Officer of the Order of Ontario

1992: Companion of the Order of Canada

1992: Hamilton Gallery of Distinction

1994: Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)

1996: Appointed chairman of the Canadian Race Relations

1996: Award of Excellence from Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association

1997: Lifetime Achievement Award by Canadian Association of Black Lawyers

1998: Black History Month J.C. Holland Award

1998: Government of Ontario Award for Outstanding Achievement in Human Rights

1998: Terry Fox Hall of Fame

1999: Appointed honorary chief of Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police

2003: Canadian Race Relations Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement

Named in his honour:

Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway in Hamilton, OPP headquarters in Orillia, Lincoln M. Alexander Public School in Hamilton, Lincoln Alexander Public School in Ajax, Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School in Mississauga, Alexander Pavilion at St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton (named for Lincoln and his wife Yvonne).

Favourite songs (from a list of music he picked to be played on a CBC radio show in 1985):

Satin Doll

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho

One O’Clock Jump

Tales from the Vienna Woods

Am I Asking Too Much?

The Lady Is A Tramp

Bess, You Is My Woman Now

How Great Thou Art

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