About a thousand people, including some of the most powerful and wealthy in the province, jammed into an Anglican Church in Vancouver yesterday to say goodbye to Jack Poole.
The chair of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee died Friday following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer only hours after the Olympic torch was lit in Greece.
“It was a wonderful service and very appropriate,” said David Podmore, Poole’s longtime friend and business associate.
Poole, who was the head of Vancouver’s Olympic bid, is credited with winning the Games that will begin in 107 days.
Premier Gordon Campbell and VANOC CEO John Furlong were among the speakers at the funeral, which concluded with a rendition of Happy Trails.
“(The speakers) captured the essence of Jack, and made everyone in the room — just as Jack always did — feel really special and warm and wanted,” Podmore said.
Speakers touched on Poole’s mischievousness and fondness of practical jokes, as well as his love of family. Prior to the service, a line of several hundred stretched from the church down Burrard Street.
