Daniel Mclellan Forsythe passed away much too soon yet peacefully at the age of 60 on December 17th, 2011 with his wife Vanessa and his mother in-law Lorna by his side. He was predeceased by his parents Jim and Doreen and brother Jeff.  Danny was born in Vancouver on Bastille Day, July 14th, 1951 and grew up in Kerrisdale with his older brothers Jeff and Kenny attending Dr. R.E. McKechnie Elementary School.  He was a well known provincially ranked tennis player training under Paul Willey at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club.  He was thrilled to be chosen to race downhill in Whistler with the Canadian National Alpine Ski team "Les Espoirs" and this was the beginning of his long and storied skiing history.  He shared endless hair raising memories heliskiing with brother Kenny in Zermatt, Switzerland skiing down into Cervinia.  Dan was later sponsored by Lacoste and played tennis tournaments all across the world in France, Australia, India, Africa and the United States.

It is during his time in France that he fell in love with the culture and the arts. He studied cinema at the University of Provence, in Aix-en Provence for 2 years and then went to Paris at L' Institut Des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques for another year.  He left France well satisfied with his knowledge of film as art, film history and aesthetics but not sufficiently confident in his knowledge of production techniques so after several years he moved to the US and enrolled at the world renowned Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.  For his graduate film at Brooks he wrote, produced and directed a dramatic short subject film "Old Friends".  For this film he was able to secure permission from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to use their song in his film.  The film won several international festival awards including the Virgin Islands and the Cannes Film Festival which led to his start as the youngest director at Universal.  One of the highlights was to work with Alfred Hitchcock on a Twilight Zone in addition to directing episodes of shows including Marcus Welby M.D., Baretta, A Team, and Battlestar Galactica.  After 25 years of living in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles with untold memories alongside his many longtime friends Glynne, Jay, Woofy, Monge, Rick, and SeaBass he moved back to Vancouver to start his family.

Mr. Blue Eyes had a magnetic and charming personality.  He loved to quote rare lines from movies and was known for his wry sense of humor.  He was an extremely knowledgeable music lover, an avid reader and a political junkie thoroughly enjoying Mark Steyn's columns.  Danny was blessed with a fascinating, brilliant mind and a genius of words.  The children adored sitting with him infront of the mandatory fire listening to his stories - many about his childhood days at the family cabin in Lake of the Woods and the summer trips at the Shawnigan Beach Hotel.  He was famous on the barbecue and no one will ever make a better caesar salad!  His love of family and special moments framed his life - eternally making the most of every holiday and special occasion - ending with sing alongs around the piano with his favorite Broadway, Gershwin and Michel Legrand scores.

Dan was an adventurous man in his athletic pursuits and his travels - pushing the envelope was his style!  He lived his life with intensity whether it was spending hours hunting down the perfect tree at Whistler with Force and Hadley or enjoying 3 hour lunches at Crocodile with Dodge or Mark and Dave.  Evenings at Don Francesco's with Rooob, George and the family will never be forgotten especially during the 2010 Olympics. Introducing Hadley and Madison to the wonders of fondue bourguignonne, raw milk cheese and pates from Oyama was very pleasing to him.  Big bear hugs and snuggles with Papa were loved by all especially Gigi his "treasure".

Saturday nights were perpetually spent at home with the Goose and Mr. James enjoying a Brooklyn pizza in anticipation of "Football Sunday" with his wife Dr. V

In his later years, Dan worked on various mining and business projects while dedicating and volunteering many hours as a coach in the sports community.  He coached for 8 years in Point Grey Soccer and over 11 years as coach and All-Stars Coach for baseball in Jericho and Kerrisdale Little League.  He enjoyed working with the kids and they appreciated his coaching style.  Dan was an optimist and invariably mentored his loved ones to strive to be the best and never settle for mediocrity.  He was so proud of his son Jackson and never wanted to miss any of his football or basketball games at VC even though it was very painful for him to climb up and sit in the bleachers.

The most amazing and unbelievable development in Dan's colorful life was his journey to the faith - thanks to Michael, George and of course Father John. This gave Dan incredible strength during his illness and he was never afraid of his terminal prognosis.  Listening and reflecting on Father John's beautiful homilies for the past 8 years culminated into his dreams of receiving the Sacrament of Baptism in the Catholic Church together with Vanessa last year - just days before Christmas.

Dan will be cherished and sadly missed by his wife Vanessa, his six children Force, Hadley, Madison, Jackson, Gillian and Angus. Brothers and sisters Kenny, Susan, Alan and Laura; mother in law Lorna and brother in law Robert.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11:00am on Thursday, December 22nd at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (1430 West 38th Ave.) followed by a private interment at Cedar Valley Memorial Gardens in Yellowpoint, BC - a very special place to Dan over the years.
The family wishes to thank the many doctors and nurses for their care throughout his illness especially Dr. Angelo Mazzarella, nurse Pat, Dr. Martin Gleave, Dr. Mira Keyes and Dr. Pippa Hawley.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory to the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society, the Vancouver Prostate Center or the BC Cancer Foundation are greatly appreciated.

"Happy Darling?"