Many in the region’s business world are saddened by the death of David McNamara, former vice president of incubation at Innovacorp in Halifax, who has died at the age of 63 after just two months of retirement.

Business leaders have been quick to praise McNamara’s long service to the province, both at Innovacorp and in many senior positions in community, economic and business development.

“David served our province with distinction for over 42 years and we were fortunate to have him head up our incubation practice since 1995,” said Stephen Duff, Innovacorp’s President and CEO.
“David was a true champion of the entrepreneur and played a significant role in helping develop our startup ecosystem. It seemed to me that David knew just about everyone in this town and beyond, and he took great pride in connecting people in meaningfully helpful ways.

“He was a mentor to many and typically my primary source of intelligence was during water-cooler chats with David that would reveal insights I would eventually read in the following weeks from more traditional news sources. He has been taken from us way too early and his Innovacorp family will miss him immensely.”

As Innovacorp’s vice president of incubation, McNamara’s focus was on overseeing the Technology Innovation Centre in Dartmouth, the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre in Halifax, and the grow-out facility at 101 Research Drive.

He also drove the creation of the BioScience Enterprise Centre (BSEC) in the late 1990s. A dozen years later, he led the creation of the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre on Dalhousie’s campus. He also played a significant part in turning 101 Research Drive, Innovacorp's former headquarters, into a new home for Ocean Nutrition Canada to grow from being a BSEC incubation client to an entity later acquired for $540 million by a Dutch multinational.

McNamara consulted on incubator development around the world and frequently shared his expertise at National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) and Canadian Association of Business Incubation (CABI) conferences.‎ He was president of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum; a long-time member of CABI's board of directors and executive team, and a volunteer  for many business community initiatives. Most recently, in his capacity as CABI’s president, he helped create an incubation stream under the federal government’s Start-Up Visa program for immigrant entrepreneurs.

CABI bestowed an award of merit on McNamara in 2012, honouring his achievements in transforming Innovacorp into a model program for business incubation and for his continuing leadership within the Canadian Business Incubation Industry.

McNamara was extremely popular and was known for his wit, his sense of style and his love for his home province. An accomplished golfer, he spent many hours at both the original and new Ashburn with his friends and business associates.