Larry Root Award
Larry Root was a passionate advocate and volunteer on seniors' issues who passed away in July 2020. To honour his achievements, Navigating Retirement has established the annual Larry Root Award to recognize volunteers who help retirees in the city of London
Previous Award Winners
2025 - Jim Chapman was the winner of the 2025 Larry Root Award, recognizing his volunteer activities on behalf of seniors in our community. In 2025, Jim was named a "Distinguished Londoner" on the Mayor's New Year Honours List in recognition of his long music and media careers and his leadership in the charitable sector, having helped to raise millions of dollars in the community.
In 2023 created “The Jim Chapman Show”, live songs and stories performance geared to Baby Boomers. It was an almost instant success, and Jim continues to perform at dozens of venues including seniors' homes, concert halls, banquets, churches, and private gatherings. After sixty years as a working musician and the release of three albums, in 2023, Jim was inducted into the London Music Hall of Fame.
2024 - The recipient of the Larry Root Award is Michael Lamb. For 12 years, he has served on the Elder Abuse Prevention London-Middlesex and for a couple of years, he has served as Chair. He has made presentations on elder abuse to retirement homes, social clubs and church groups. In 2016, he received the Brian Young Award from the London Police Service for advocacy for seniors.
2023 - At the December 13th Navigating Retirement meeting, we were pleased to give the 2023 Larry Root Award to Judy and Armin Grunwald. In addition to serving on various boards, they are active in the Byron Legion, supporting youth in the Air Cadets, and have volunteered at the 427 Wing at the London International Airport.
2022 - Gord and Mary Vair had various volunteer roles. Mary volunteered in the Physiotherapy department at the Strathroy Hospital for 7 years and Gord volunteered with CNIB as a buddy to a blind person. They have both volunteered with Meals on Wheels and taught seniors exercise classes. For more than 15 years they both volunteered at Victoria Hospital.