Bernard Bouffard – who hitch-hiked as a kid between Ottawa and Sudbury with classmate Alex Trebek and who later founded the now-iconic Bay Used Books – has died. He was 86.

Born in Verner on May 27, 1939, to Albert Bouffard and Emma (née Beauparlant), he lost both his parents at a young age, “a loss that shaped his determination and perseverance throughout his life,” his obituary noted.

Recommended Videos

In 1960, he married his high school sweetheart, Fran, and together they celebrated 65 years of marriage this past September. After a brief period working underground at Inco (now Vale) in the early 1960s, Bouffard moved his young family to North Bay to begin his professional journey as a bookkeeper-controller at Firestone.

“He continued to grow his accounting expertise with other empl

See Full Page