This is such a sad day for me.
Ian passed away last night at age 64 from complications of an illness that was affecting him for most of this year. He contracted the flu last January. Shortly after he was diagnosed with a "syndrome" that has a 2 foot long name which I do not know. It affected his kidneys, liver and his blood...including the immune system. He was in and out of the hospital several times this year.
He was back in the hospital this week but doing better on Thursday, hoping to go home today, Saturday. Suddenly he contracted pneumonia yesterday and died last night at 5PM.
He was quite active this year on and off when feeling well and he went hunting in Africa twice...the second time for cape buffalo...his dream.
Ian was a bear specialist with the Saskatchewan Fish and Game Department, retiring about 7 years ago. His articles and photos were published in many national magazines. He was a very modest man. It was only years after I came to know him that he mentioned his outstanding deer photos had made the covers over 30 times.
He was a charter member of LRH when I started this site in 2001. As such he was part of a small handful who were responsible for our earliest success. I met him in person only once but feel I knew him well. We shared emailed photos of our grandchildren, swapping stories about family. He was a very generous man with a huge smile always present. I really regret I never spent the time and energy to travel to his home in Canada and shoot or hunt with him.
When I started publishing articles on this site in 2007, he generously offered me about 8 of his articles that had previously been seen in national magazines. A couple months ago (probably when he was feeling better for a short while) he sent me more which I will be publishing on LRH over the next few months.
He was a big man with a huge heart. I will miss him!
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