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Hundreds of friends and a Who's Who of B.C. business and politics joined Jack Poole's family to say goodbye yesterday to the man who helped bring the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver.

Mr. Poole, board chairman of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee known as VANOC, died Friday after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, just hours after the torch was lit at Olympia for February's Games. He was 76.

The funeral service at a downtown Vancouver church was kept private at the family's request.

But business partner David Podmore, who succeeded Mr. Poole as head of the development firm Concert Properties Ltd., read a statement from his wife Darlene on behalf of the family. “Our family has known that the last two years have been very precious years for us,” the statement said.

“Jack died knowing that the Olympic flame had been lit and comforted that the Games are in the best of hands. His spirit will live on in the Games that lie ahead in just 108 days.”

Before the service, mourners lined the sidewalk outside Christ Church Anglican Cathedral in downtown Vancouver in a block-long queue.

Among them were federal Sport Minister Gary Lunn, former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen, billionaire businessman Jimmy Pattison and the Aquilini family, major land developers like Mr. Poole and owners of the Vancouver Canucks NHL club.

Mr. Poole, whose Daon Development empire collapsed under crushing debts in the 1980s, also numbered the notorious among his friends and acquaintances.

Flamboyant business promoter Nelson Skalbania, the former Edmonton Oilers owner who was once convicted of theft in a business deal, was a pallbearer.

And colourful businesswoman Faye Leung, whose tape recordings of a business deal with then-premier Bill Vander Zalm helped push him from office, was among the mourners.

Mr. Podmore said those who spoke at the service touched on Mr. Poole's commitment to his family and willingness to help those who needed it, but also his mischievous streak, his love of practical jokes.

He asked that the last piece of music at the service be Happy Trails to You , Mr. Podmore said.

“That was Jack getting back at everybody,” he said.

The speakers included Mr. Poole's daughter Gwen, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, VANOC chief executive John Furlong and Peter Brown, chairman of Canaccord Capital.

The Vancouver police pipe band played as the casket was taken from the church, followed by Mr. Poole's family.

Mr. Campbell, who like Mr. Poole had worked as a property developer and who tapped him to lead Vancouver's Olympic bid, departed grim-faced.

Mr. Poole had a hard-scrabble upbringing in Depression-era Saskatchewan but it didn't keep him from becoming a professional civil engineer and one of Canada's most successful real estate developers.

In 2001, he agreed to head the committee preparing a bid for the 2010 Games. He earned a dollar a year for his efforts.

After Vancouver edged Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the right to host the Games, Mr. Poole was appointed to chair the 20-member organizing committee.

Mr. Poole, who'd beaten prostate cancer years ago, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007. He staved it off with aggressive treatment, including radical therapy at a Seattle clinic last summer.

He stayed at VANOC throughout, though in the final weeks he was forced to take part in meetings via telephone.

He was too ill to travel to Greece for last week's torch-lighting ceremony but Mr. Furlong phoned him afterward to share the event.

Mr. Poole was also a noted philanthropist, who helped raise millions for the Vancouver General Hospital and University of British Columbia Hospital foundation, in addition to his personal donations.

He contributed most of the $6.5-million to buy a surgical robot for Vancouver General Hospital and build the operating room to house it. The machine was named after him.

The Canadian Press