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According to Jeremy Brown, a Salvation Army resident who had known him for almost four years, Maxwell was “a very kind man who would do whatever he could for you.

“He was an old soul with a good sense of humour, and I don’t think you could find anyone here with anything bad to say about him. That’s the type of guy he was. He was a fixture around here, in a positive way.”

Little is known about Maxwell. He was born in North Sydney, N.S. in October 1952. His father’s given name was John. Following his time in the military, he worked with Ontario Hydro. He had a brother who lives, or lived, somewhere on the East coast. He never married or had children. His next-of-kin was listed as the Last Post Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that veterans without means receive a dignified funeral, burial and military headstone. The organization paid for Maxwell’s ceremony and burial.

OTTwp

Maxwell was an early riser, up by 4:30 most mornings and out the door to pick up a McDonald’s coffee, blueberry muffin and Ottawa Sun — he liked to keep up on current events — which he would take with him back to the Booth Centre cafeteria for breakfast.

In the afternoons, he might be found at a nearby Tim Hortons, not for the coffee so much as for the company of his friends. He liked sports, particularly football and Ottawa Senators hockey, and karaoke. He also boxed in his youth, and claimed to have competed in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, an autobiographical detail not supported by research. He also said he was distantly related to the Maxwell House coffee manufacturer, also unlikely given that the company was not named for a founder.

But he did have the hands of a boxer, and often said that if there were any problems with people at the Centre, he would stand up and fight. “He always had people’s backs,” said one woman at the Centre who asked not to be named. “I found that admirable because it’s such a fight-or-flight environment here, yet he had that care for other people. Lloyd was one of the sweetest guys kicking around here.”

“A lot of people here,” added Brown, “were upset when they found out he’d passed away.

“I miss the guy already.”

bdeachman@postmedia.com