Long-time New Brunswick politician Greg Thompson was laid to rest Friday.

All Saints Anglican Church in St. Andrews, N.B. was filled as people from all walks of life came to pay their respects.

Thompson died Sept. 10 after a years-long battle with cancer. He was 72.

His political career was long and distinguished at both the provincial and national level.

A six-term Conservative MP and cabinet minister, Thompson took his talents to Fredericton and helped mentor Premier Blaine Higgs as a cabinet member in a minority government.

“He was the kind of person who didn’t speak a lot but when he spoke you listened and if he was really passionate about something you knew it,” Higgs said.

New Brunswick Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said he first met Thompson while serving as Sergeant-at-Arms on Parliament Hill.

“He is the finest cut of the cloth of New Brunswick,” Vickers said. “Remarkable, polished, chivalrous, [most] distinguished person that I’ve encountered.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was in attendance at the funeral. Scheer started serving with Thompson in 2004 and told reporters Thompson was always a source of wisdom and compassion in the federal caucus.

New Brunswick Southwest Liberal candidate Karen Ludwig says everyone knew him as simply ‘Greg’.

“He was kind, he was gentle, he was a gentleman but fiercely, fiercely … a promoter of New Brunswick,” she said.

Those remarks extended far beyond his political life. “Lot of common sense,” St. Andrews resident John Boone said. “Gets along very well with all the people. Very very friendly and always trying to help people,” Boone added.

Thompson was eulogized by his daughter-in-law Jennifer Thompson who combined humour and heartfelt affection.

She said as a young boy, Greg Thompson aspired to be either Pope or Prime Minister. She added, of all the titles he held in life his greatest were that of husband, dad and papa.

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