Jack Poole

Poole graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1954,[5] with a degree in civil engineering. He subsequently entered the field of real estate development (in which position he hired B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, then a teenager, as a labourer; Poole later joked that he had given Campbell "his first job", and that by choosing Poole to chair VANOC, Campbell "gave me my last").[6] Poole co-founded Daon Development Corporation, the second-largest real estate development company in North America until its collapse in the early 1980s recession when it was purchased by Bell Canada Enterprises.[1]

Jack Poole was born on April 13, 1933 in Mortlach, Saskatchewan. He was the youngest child of John (Jack) Vigors Poole and his wife Edith W. Goalen who had one daughter and two sons (Betty, George and Jack). Mr. Poole worked at the grain elevator after his Massey-Harris farm equipment dealership went broke during the Depression and Mrs. Poole was the local postmistress.[7]

Poole was a sixth generation Metis through an 18th century British ancestor who had arrived in Moose Factory on James Bay in 1776 to work for the Hudson's Bay Company and married a Cree woman. After receiving his Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2007, Jack is quoted as saying: "I think I'm six generations removed from the Cree lady, but I have a Métis card, and by definition, in Canada, I'm an aboriginal person. I've always been very proud of this fact—to have Canadian roots that go that far back."[8]

His father John "Jack" Poole was a grain dealer.[1] He is survived by his second wife Darlene, four daughters, a stepson and his extended family. One of his grandsons, Blake Hawksworth, was a Major League Baseball pitcher. His granddaughter Erin Hawksworth is a reporter.[9]

Olympic Cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza

Olympic Cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza

Poole was made a member of the Order of British Columbia in 2003,[10] an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006,[11] and a member of the Order of the Sash by the Metis Nation British Columbia in March 2007.[12]

To honour his work and achievement for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics, the former Thurlow Plaza was renamed Jack Poole Plaza in his memory.[13][14] The external cauldron for the games was chosen to be built at the Jack Poole Plaza as well.