Jack Poole, a multimillionaire Vancouver real estate developer. was born in Mortlach Saskatchewan on April 13, 1933. He died of complications from pancreatic cancer in hospital in Vancouver early on Friday, October 23. Poole, who was 76, is survived by his second wife Darlene, four daughters, a stepson and his extended family.
His pal, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, asked him to head up the city’s bid for the 2010 Olympics, and Poole agreed to sideline himself in the middle of a hot construction market to work gratis – and pay his own expenses – as chair of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
For Poole, the Olympics were the final test in a career with as many peaks and plunges as a small town roller coaster. “All my life I have had spectacular successes, and just as spectacular failures. I’ve learned, with the failures, to bear them, and with the successes to savour them. They are the ones that make the failures worth bearing,” he confided in an interview in 2003
He knew the stakes were high with this one. Taking on the Olympics was a massive undertaking not only for him, but for the province and the country. The process forced the two levels of government to work together, a legacy that he felt was even more important than winning the chance to host the games. ”
But, as the deadline for the 2010 Winter Games approached, the question on everybody’s mind was whether Jack Poole could defy the medical odds in an even bigger struggle — with cancer.In the past he had joked about carrying the Olympic torch through his home town of Mortlach, Sask., on its journey from Athens to Vancouver.“It might be fun, if time allowed, to be there when the torch goes through, but the chances are I’d probably fall down,” he joked last summer. He held off until after the Olympic Torch was ignited in Athens and then died peacefully early this morning in Vancouver.
John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games said: “His spirit will guide us in these final months of preparation and celebration. He was encouraging and supportive to the end and we will honour him and complete the vision he started so many years ago. On behalf of all of the VANOC family, we extend our sincere condolences to the Poole family.”
Jack Poole and John Furlong were co-recipients of the first Canadian Sports Executive of the Year Award — presented by Sports Media Canada in 2003.