Dave Ryan: Pickering’s Longest-Serving Mayor
If you’ve lived in Pickering over the past few decades, you know the name Dave Ryan. Born around 1946, he and his wife Anne have called Pickering home since 1985, raising two daughters and later welcoming three granddaughters. Before politics, he was a business guy: 33 years in general business and management at IBM before retiring to run for mayor in 2003. His start in public life came earlier, though — he was first elected to Pickering City Council in 1994.
Local politics was clearly his calling. After winning the mayor’s chair in 2003, he kept getting re-elected, landing a fifth consecutive term in 2018, making him the longest-serving mayor in Pickering’s history — 28 years on Council in total through 2022. He cared about the environment, too, making sustainability into how the city ran and earning national awards, and he leaned into big growth projects like Seaton, Durham Live, and a revitalized downtown.
When he announced in April 2022 that he wouldn’t run again, he said he was stepping away to focus on his health and family. Fittingly, what he said he’d miss most was the people — all the chats and run-ins with residents that made the job special. Kevin Ashe took over on November 15, 2022.
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Dave Ryan Community Park
Fitting, isn’t it, that one of Seaton’s new green spaces carries the name of the mayor who fought to build the community in the first place. The future Dave Ryan Community Park will sit at the southeast corner of Mulberry Lane and Alexander Knox Road — right in the neighbourhood Ryan spent years championing.
And it’s shaping up to be a real destination. Plans include a lit soccer pitch, a lit ball diamond, tennis and pickleball courts, basketball, big playgrounds, a water play area, and a washroom/fieldhouse — something for just about everyone. Construction is underway, with opening expected in 2026. There’s a nice symmetry to it: Seaton was one of Ryan’s marquee projects, and now a park there will carry his name for the families who’ll actually use it. A quiet tip of the hat to the guy who helped shape what Pickering is becoming.
Bravo Dave Ryan!
