With profound sadness, we announce that Manfred Kurschner, age 63, passed away suddenly on Friday, December 15, 2017 at Vancouver General Hospital when he suffered cardiovascular trauma. Manny was born on Christmas day in 1953 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was predeceased by his parents Werner and Edeltraud Kurschner, who were born in Germany, and his younger sister Jackie, who died of leukemia at age 19. Manny is survived by his wife Claudia, his sons Lewis and Jordan, his twin sisters Denise (Bert) and Ingrid (Tim), nieces, nephews, a grand nephew, extended family in Germany, and many friends both personal and professional.

There is so much to say about a one-of-a-kind guy like Manny. At age three, Manny, his mother and his sister Jackie took the long journey by boat to Germany where they lived with his grandparents for six months while his father remained in Winnipeg working hard and saving money. Manny spoke only German until he began kindergarten where his classmates cruelly teased him for wearing lederhosen to school! Early in his youth, Manny became a 'Y-Rat' (his word) and basically lived at the YMCA 24-7. He became an inspiring and beloved leader of youth at the Y.

Manny loved nature and the outdoors, from the mountains and forests to the ocean. Manny was a very physical guy and excelled at any outdoor activity he attempted, including biking, hiking, both cross-country and downhill skiing, running, swimming, kayaking and much more. At age 18, Manny's love of outdoor, self-propelled activities lead him, in partnership with friends, to open a successful outdoor sports equipment store in Saskatoon called Fresh Air Experience, which morphed into a chain of stores across four provinces from Alberta to Ontario. He planted wild rice in Northern Manitoba to earn the money needed to open the first store. In the late '70s, Manny sold his interest in the Fresh Air stores, made his way West. He settled in Kamloops, BC where he and his new partners opened another outdoor sports equipment store called Mountain Mania – an apt name for someone like Manny who was a wild 'Mountain Man'. Moving later to Vancouver, Manny's next successful experience in retail was to manage every detail of the opening of Sportif, a huge sporting goods store with record sales in the first few days.

Always looking for new opportunities, Manny changed course in the '80s and took on the challenge of managing, funding, and promoting public companies in the venture capital market. He was a born entrepreneur. He raised many millions of dollars for tech and biotech start-ups and mineral exploration companies. He was a senior executive who acted with integrity and cared about his company's shareholders. He understood the world of finance and the stock market very well and was a savvy online trader who wasn't afraid to speculate and take risks. He loved gold stocks and called himself a 'Gold Bug'.

Manny was an avid cyclist throughout his entire life. He taught his boys to ride a bike and ski as soon as they could walk. He was the only father we know who took his boys by bicycle six kilometers to and from school every single day. He also commuted to work by bike, rain, shine or snow, usually before dawn. Mountain biking became one of his greatest passions. We're talking very steep, narrow, rooty, rocky trails with 'black diamond' or 'double black diamond' difficulty and aptly named Pure Vida, High Society, Industrial Disease and Tunnel Vision. There were many epic rides with his Whistler crew, complete with crashes, cuts, gouges, bruises and even broken bones. Not surprisingly, Manny would quickly get right back on his bike.

Manny was a superb competitive x-country skier who raced for years, always placing in the top, and one year won the BC championship. By offering lessons and coaching, he introduced countless people to x-country skiing and other sports. In recent years, he returned to teaching x-country skiing at Cypress Mountain and the Whistler Olympic Park. He truly inspired his students and loved giving them a fun, confidence-boosting experience.

Manny was born with two green thumbs and was uniquely talented at gardening and landscaping – another lifelong passion. With an artist's vision and design, he created gardens that were full of beautiful structures, unusual plants and interesting colour schemes. He spent many hours tending his gardens with love, often bringing weak plants back to life. Our neighbours and friends often sought his advice with their own gardens. Recently, he began a business called Backyard Dreams to help people bring their dreams to life in outdoor spaces.

Manny was a character. You were lucky if he shared with you his somewhat crude and perverse sense of humour because that meant he really enjoyed your company. His sense of humour was playful and he enjoyed making people laugh, squirm and blush. He was very friendly, open and easy to talk to. He befriended people of all ages and was himself very young at heart.

When Manny relaxed, some of his favourite things to enjoy were fine tequila, chocolate, Mary Jane, and all genres of music from Rap to Ambient to Classic Jazz to Electronic to New Age – you name it. Before music streaming, he had 10,000 songs on his iPod!

Manny was a risk taker and thrived on pushing himself physically to the limit. These quotes epitomized the man he was in every aspect of his life.

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." – T.S. Elliott
"Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing." – Barry Finlay
"The most dangerous thing you can do in life is to play it safe." – Casey Neistat

A celebration of Manny's life will be held at Earls in The Loft room upstairs at 1095 Mainland Street in Yaletown on Sunday, March 25, 2018 from 1:00p.m. to 4:00p.m.

If you would like to write a comment about Manfred Kurschner, please do so below.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation in his memory to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada or to any charity of your choice.