Thursday November 5th, 2009 - Jack Poole The Man Who Brought The Olympics To Vancouver

If the saying that amazing things can be accomplished from humble starts is true then Jack Poole is living proof. Jack Poole was a man that came from nothing and became one of the top in real estate in the British Columbia area. He was a man who lived life to the fullest even when it seemed like he was getting kicked in the gut, Jack always came out on top.

Before he was the head of an real estate empire Jack Poole grew up in a home that had none of the modern conveniences that we are accustomed to these days. We take things like indoor plumbing and running water for granted. These were things that Jack Poole was not used to growing up.

Born at the conclusion of the Depression Poole was a young man that had a very promising NHL career in front of him until a car hit him at age fifteen injuring his leg and putting an end to his NHL dreams. The next year his High School girlfriend gave birth to their first daughter named Gwen. Two years later the couple welcomed their second child again a girl named Anne, by this time Jack was studying civil engineering in school.

By the time he turned 22 Jack was working as a salesman to help increase his income to support his wife and their two daughters. This would serve as the background for his real estate career.

Home-building

The following year was when he entered into the home construction business and this is would be where he would start building his empire that would make him one of the most successful businessmen in British Columbia.

Jack started his career out as the manager of construction at a local company in Edmonton. Seven years later jack moved to Vancouver in order to open up a office on the west coast. It was shortly after this while he was in the middle of working on a major contract that the company hit some financial trouble and was asking Jack to return to the Edmonton office.

Since him and his family were already settled down in the city of Vancouver, Jack went to a local home developer and proposed that the two buy out the company that Jack was working for. The two formed Daon Development Corp., which would become on of the largest real estate companies on the continent, employing almost 1000 people with five locations in Canada and nine in the United States.

However with the recession that hit in 1982 the company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection. Jack Poole who was personally worth over 100 million was now flat broke. With his financial ruin also came the end of his marriage to his wife of 33 years. After losing his house and his cars all he was left with was his financial debt. The loss of his personal wealth and his marriage of 33 years was a hard blow for Jack to have to deal with. But he would come out on top and persevere in his life.

In 1987 Jack would marry his second wife, he would remain married to this woman up until his death in 2007. Jack was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and would be absent from work for a year and a half. He returned to work after being gone for 18 months. The cancer reappeared and in 2007 the day that the olympic torch was lit in Greece to begin it’s journey to Vancouver, Jack Poole lost his battle and died of pancreatic cancer he was 76 years old.

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