Feb. 28, 1939 – Sept. 30, 2018 It is with great sadness to announce, that with his daughters by his side, Gene Zwick of Kamloops, passed away at age 79. Dad is survived and will be soulfully missed and remembered by his two daughters, Laurie ‘Rosa’ Zwick and Sharlene Zwick. He is predeceased by his father Wasyl ‘Bill’ Zwick and mother Maria (Nikolajenko/Lopatenko) Zwick. Gene was born in Kiev, Ukraine as an only child. After WWII, he and his parents, lived in various refugee camps before immigrating to Canada at age 11. Via a brief stay in Toronto, they went to Vancouver to live. Here, on the coast, is where Gene met his dearest and oldest friend, Ken Haraldsen. Later, Dad and his family settled in Kitimat, BC when he was a teen. But it was a beautiful sunset in Kamloops, that made Gene, as a young adult, fall in love with the area and is where he decided to start his career and live. For over 30 years Dad taught high school (mathematics, mechanics and science) the majority at John Peterson and shortly before he retired, at Kam High. Dad, known by many as Mr. Zwick, was always so proud of his students and will also be remembered for his chalk throwing abilities. All his life Dad loved the outdoors and his hobbies. He had an ingenious ability to create, build, design and fix almost anything. You would see him skiing, fishing, gardening, flying and many other activities, that he loved to pursue with family and friends or just by himself. Dad’s first love though was skiing, which he took every opportunity to do. Sharing in Dad’s love, was his dearest and nearest friend, Ian Mackenzie and Dad would always talk about his skiing buddy with such warmth. Dad then took on growing tomatoes…hundreds of them. Plants not just for himself but mostly to sell in the local community, which endeared him the name “The Tomato Guy”. Dad also had over 15 years with driving bus (Thompson Valley Charters) where he loved interacting with tourists and his co-workers. At age 60 Dad earned his pilots license. He loved restoring his ultralight aircrafts and would start his tales of getting them to fly with….” Don’t worry, I wasn’t hurt…”.
