Great Lakes Icon Gordon Lightfoot Passes Away

Canadian folk singer-songwriter and Great Lakes icon Gordon Lightfoot passed away in May 2023 at the age of 84. Lightfoot was widely known for popularizing the 1975 Great Lakes shipwreck in his 1976 hit, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

“To Mr. Lightfoot, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ was more than just a hit song,” the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum writes. “Gordon truly cared about the families of the tragedy that occurred on that night of November 10, 1975. That was proven in 2015 when he came to Whitefish Point for the 40th remembrance of the sinking, but he came a day early. He wanted to meet and talk with the surviving Fitzgerald family members. He did not want to be the focus. Gordon knew that was a day for the families, he was just that selfless and classy. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society will always be grateful for his kindness to us and the family members of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and it seems from now on every time the bell of the Fitzgerald tolls, his spirit will be a part of those 29 chimes.”

Born on November 17, 1938, in Orillia, Ontario, Lightfoot’s career spans over six decades. His signature songs like “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” have become timeless classics.