‘We’re going to talk about him for decades’: Fundraiser launched following death of longtime Whistler ski instructor Wayne Deane

DEANE—AN INSTRUCTOR, FRIEND, HUSBAND AND DAD—DIED SUDDENLY ON SUNDAY, MARCH 12 AT THE AGE OF 59

BY MEGAN LALONDE

WHISTLER’S COMMUNITY is mourning the shocking loss of a beloved longtime local and ski instructor, Wayne Deane, who died suddenly on Sunday, March 12.

Deane was an integral member of a crew that has “grown up together,” over the course of their approximately 30 years in the Sea to Sky, explained friend PJ O’Heany. “We’re all from somewhere else in Whistler. We’ve all got awesome families, and we create our own chosen family. And he was a big part of it.”

That crew is now rallying to support Deane’s wife and three daughters in the wake of his passing. A GoFundMe launched late on March 13, titled “Support for the family of Wayne Deane,” raised more than half of its $30,000 goal by the following afternoon.

Deane suffered a heart attack on Sunday afternoon, after having coffee with a longtime client-turned-friend, and calling his wife, Pam, to tell her he’d be home shortly. Deane, who turned 59 in January and worked for Whistler Blackcomb’s Snow School for more than 28 years, collapsed in a Whistler parking lot and passed away, leaving “a void that cannot be measured or expressed in words,” the campaign’s description reads.

Deane was born in Penrith, Australia, where he was raised by his mom alongside two brothers and one sister, before finding his way to Whistler, where he raised his own three daughters—twins Cassidy and Chantal, and the youngest, JJ—with Pam.

Deane always “called it how he saw it,” said Bart Barczynski, Deane’s friend and general manager of adult programs and private lessons for Whistler Blackcomb’s snow school.

Pam would, jokingly, call her husband “grouchy,” which, as Barczynski explained, equated to Deane’s “happy state”—a put-on outward persona he would use to hide the love, kindness and generosity he extended to those around him.

“He loved the town, he loved his friends— he would have done anything for his friends,” Barczynski said. “There’s many times that he’s helped me, that I will never be able to repay him.”

Still, his family always came first. Deane “was an amazing dad” and “so proud of his kids,” said Barczynski.

As his daughters made their way through Whistler’s ski, soccer and basketball programs, Deane often took on the role of coach, said O’Heany. But outside of his family, Deane earned his own set of athletic achievements through his passions for skiing, surfing and mountain biking.

Deane competed as a semi-pro surfer circuit in Australia, before moving to Canada, where—after a stint working as a chef in Toronto, said O’Heany—he traded the board for skis and went on to achieve the highest level of ski instructor certification possible.

He always prioritized his guests’ experience and was “instrumental” in local ski instructor training programs, helping