Daughter Yvette (17): I have always dreamed of a career performing classical music or opera, and dad has always been there helping me pick out music for hours, looking at different artists and music schools. He has always dreamed of being an opera singer and I think he is very proud that his daughter is reaching for that goal.
Daughter Maria (21): To dad, heart is more important than talent. How bad do you want it? At one point when the circumstances surrounding my dream were at their worst,…when people were telling me to choose one thing or the other, I pictured my dad quietly whispering – you can have it all. Impossibility is not a word he throws around.
Son Aidan (23): Dad thrives on change, and the chameleon in him will always adjust to whatever environment he finds himself in. If you dropped him and mom off on an uninhabited island with only his underwear, this is what would unfold. He’d say to himself, ‘Hmmm, what can I do with a pair of underwear?’… then he’d run off into the forest and by golly if by evening my mother wasn’t sitting down to a candlelight dinner with a glazed ham and pina coladas. But he only understands his purpose through giving. Put him on the same island without mom, and he wouldn’t last a week. You’d find he died, turned into a raisin and left nothing but the underwear behind.
Daughter Janet (25): My dad is a great man, who has no idea he is great, which makes him a rare breed among great men. He recently spoke for a seminar class at our local college. He asked my two-and-a-half year old son Gabriel and me to go with him. I was hesitant, but dad was insistent that Gabriel come as his assistant for the day. He told me he hoped the students didn’t just remember him as the boring old CEO, but as the guy who brought the cute kid.
Daughter Maggie (27): Every summer, late August, he would call us into the house one-by-one to talk about we wanted to achieve in the coming school year. He’d have a chart with columns for studies, extra curricular activities, exercise, musical talent, etc… He never pressured us to do any particular activity, but he wouldn’t let us be lazy either.
Daughter Anna Claire (28): Dad is a very funny person! He loves music and will sing almost any song that catches his ear. He came into the kitchen one evening, doing a little dance and singing “don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me”. And he would do funny things while driving us to school as kids. He would beep the horn and wave at every passing vehicle, and the other drivers would wave back at us in a peculiar way, all the way trying to figure out who was waving at them.
Son Eugene (30): I’ve worked with my father for the past eight years. I appreciate his honest and objective feedback, even though that might take place at a moment’s notice in the living room. Working with dad and other family members certainly brings a higher level of dedication to the business.
Wife Yvonne: We were going on a family weekend to Rocky Harbour, and he brought his easels. I knew that meant he was planning a meeting and I wasn’t very pleased with him. The next day, he ushered the whole family into the hotel conference room. The meeting was for us! He had juice and muffins arranged, tea and coffee, and we spent the whole morning talking about the meaning of family and what we wanted to achieve as a family. We created a family mission statement, we had it framed and we gave copies to each of the kids. They loved it!
