Friends of a homeless man who died in Scarborough while trying to make a fire to keep warm remembered him Monday as a gentleman who always wanted to spread happiness to others.

Dozens of friends and family gathered at St. Timothy's Anglican Church for a service to remember Grant Alex Faulkner, also known as “Gunner” to his friends.

Faulkner, 49, died Jan. 13 after his makeshift shelter near McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue caught fire.

Speaking with CP24 at the funeral Monday, friends remembered him as a man who was always looking to spread cheer to others.

“He was happy all the time. He knew how to make everyone smile,” friend Cathy Jones recalled tearfully. “He loved his kids no matter what – it was all he ever talked about. He loved to dance. All I remember is him being so happy. He knew how to share his happiness with everyone, no matter what.”

Another friend, Shirley Hinkson, remembered Faulkner as “quite a gentleman” who was always friendly.

“He was a very nice young man and I used to joke around with him,” Hinkson said. “Although he was not living in a place, you’d never know that. He’d never go around telling you.”

Friends and family said that Faulkner had been battling a number of problems, including alcoholism.

Faulkner is the latest member of the city’s homeless population to die on the streets this winter amid frigid temperatures. On Jan. 5, a man was found dead inside a delivery truck in the Davenport Road and Wiltshire Avenue area after a freezing cold night. Within a day, another man was found dead of an apparent heart attack and hypothermia at a TTC shelter near Yonge-Dundas Square.

Those deaths triggered a review of the city’s policy for issuing extreme cold weather alerts and prompted the city to rent space in motels to make sure that there’s enough room for the homeless during extreme cold weather.

“The fact this happened to him -- it’s just really unfair,” Jones said. “There are so many people out there struggling just on minimum wage, never mind homelessness. He’s not the only one I call a friend who has nowhere to go, no home, no nothing. So many people have trouble helping them. I’m glad, I really am, that there’s more light being shone on this issue.

Faulkner leaves behind three daughters and a granddaughter.

He will be buried in August on Manitoulin Island.

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