olympian 4 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Jack Poole, Vancouver Olympic visionary, has died Jack Poole, the man who brought the 2010 Winter Games to Vancouver, has died. Olympic officials say the legendary Vancouver businessman lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 76. Poole's death comes one day after the flame for the Vancouver Games was lit in Olympia, Greece. In his remarks, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge paid tribute to Poole's efforts to bring the Games together. The Vancouver resident leaves behind his wife Darlene, five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. An avid sports fan, philanthropist, developer and businessman, Poole was instrumental in bringing the Games to Vancouver as chair and CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. After Vancouver was awarded the Games, bid president John Furlong told Poole they had "moved a mountain." Poole had beaten cancer twice already - 20 years ago in his prostate, and two years ago in his pancreas - but this summer it returned for a third time. On July 1, surgeons at Vancouver General Hospital removed one cancerous tumour, but were not able to remove a second tumour located in Poole's intestine. That surgery was performed about two years after Poole was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which has the highest mortality rate of any cancer. But Poole beat it, first with surgery in Vancouver in July of 2007, and then with six weeks of treatment in Seattle in November of that same year. He sought treatment in Seattle because it wasn't available in Canada. A native of Mortlach, Sask., Poole received Canada's highest honour for lifetime achievement in 2006 when he was appointed to the Order of Canada. Among his other accolades include the Order of British Columbia, Canada's Sport Executive of the Year, Tourism Leader of the Year and member of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. Poole played hockey, baseball, curled and wrestled growing up, and was the University of Saskatchewan's heavyweight wrestling champion. In his later years he was an accomplished golfer. A graduate in civil engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Poole moved to Vancouver in 1963 and co-founded the Daon Development Corporation, which became the second largest real estate development and investment company in North America. Poole was also partner and owner of a number of other businesses, including golf courses, car dealerships and marinas. - With files from The Canadian Press ________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________ this is so sad. he worked so hard to get this games for this city and he did not even get to see it. what a sad day. Link to post Share on other sites
olympian 4 Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 RIP Mr. Poole. Link to post Share on other sites
SkiFreak 123 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Too bad he couldn't hang on an extra few months. RIP Jack. Link to post Share on other sites
SkiFreak 123 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 So I just reaized, that's two people that have passed away recently that are linked with 2010. Link to post Share on other sites
4gamesandcounting 39 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Very sad - a real shame he couldn't see it all the way through Link to post Share on other sites
Ikarus360 605 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 First the Look of the games designer, and now him O.O?...pretty macabre thing that some of the people responsable for the 2010 Games didnt lived enough too see the fruits of their efforts R.I.P Link to post Share on other sites
mr.x 24 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 He was a very large part in why Vancouver won the Games, it's awful he wasn't able to at least see the Games happen. RIP. Link to post Share on other sites
mr.x 24 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Rest In Peace. I believe this is his third struggle with cancer, really great guy... it is a real shame he wasn't able to live to see the games, he had a very large part in the 2010 bid. He gave everything he got, even when he was sick over the past few years...he was a doer. My deepest condolences to VANOC, his family, and friends. The comments at CBC are absolutely disgusting. The guy is dead and all they can do is whine about Olympics and other cr@p. Link to post Share on other sites
4gamesandcounting 39 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 I know he was integral to the bid - what was his role within VANOC? Link to post Share on other sites
Kenadian 300 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 He was Chair of the Board of Directors. The Seb Coe of Vanoc. Link to post Share on other sites
nobase2010 28 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Thank you Jack Poole and you may Rest In Peace. The people of Vancouver will carry on what you started. So sad. Link to post Share on other sites
Guardian 22 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Rest in peace, Jack Poole. Link to post Share on other sites
Diana 1 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Rest In Peace.I believe this is his third struggle with cancer, really great guy... it is a real shame he wasn't able to live to see the games, he had a very large part in the 2010 bid. He gave everything he got, even when he was sick over the past few years...he was a doer. My deepest condolences to VANOC, his family, and friends. The comments at CBC are absolutely disgusting. The guy is dead and all they can do is whine about Olympics and other cr@p. Agree all around. The comments on cbc.ca are a disgrace to the country. It's hard to imagine that any person with any amount of heart would post the stuff that's there. Those are very unhappy people who have nothing to do all day except post on public websites (as occasionally happens on gamesbids.com). Link to post Share on other sites
mr.x 24 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 ^ and they're all British Columbians. There have been news articles posted in the middle of the night, things like about the Olympic Torch Relay. Comments start pouring in at 5 am PST, and they are clearly from Ontario/Quebec. They are positive comments. 3 hours later, the entire comments section is bombarded by negativity with British Columbians waking up. It's quite sickening. And the comments in the article about Poole's death must be the low-point of it all. They obviously don't represent the average British Columbian, for some reason there are a lot more of these types here in the west coast. They are whiners, not doers. Link to post Share on other sites
jawnbc 61 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 RIP Jack. Thank you! Merci! Link to post Share on other sites
mr.x 24 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 The Vancouver Sun now has an online guest book for people to express their condolences: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=5875650110384 Link to post Share on other sites
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