Keith Reginald Beedie

June 13, 1926 - September 20, 2017

Keith Reginald Beedie, founding chairman and CEO of Beedie Development, died at the age of 91 on September 20, 2017. His singular vision in industrial and residential real estate, and his renowned work ethic, has provided employment for thousands of people, and homes or workplaces for thousands more. For Keith, development and construction was never about the profits. Keith was driven to create. Building was his passion.

Keith Beedie was born in Vancouver in 1926, the first child of Reginald and Evelyn Beedie, but his childhood was spent moving to various cities around Western Canada, as his father Reginald was promoted – and posted – through different positions with General Motors.

The family settled in Vancouver for good in 1937, and Keith's integrity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit showed at an early age. Fascinated by aviation, Keith joined the Air Cadets, hoping to learn to fly. When war broke out, he set up a lemonade stand outside a golf course to raise money for the war effort. He left high school in Grade 10 to work at Boeing's plant on Sea Island in Richmond helping to build the Catalina Flying Boat, and on the morning of his 18th birthday, Keith enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force. To his disappointment, he never saw action – in fact, he never got out of Canada – and was discharged before the war ended.
Keith's childhood passion was building things – particularly model airplanes. After the war, he took a course in auto mechanics and then joined friend Fred Banbury in a woodworking business. The first building Keith built was their workshop: a 1,200-square-foot, concrete-block structure on a 50-foot lot in Marpole they had bought for $190.

Their initial success led to orders for furniture, as well as a contract to build the show fronts, ticket booths and entrances to the Pacific National Exhibition. He and Fred dissolved their partnership, and Keith teamed up with a new partner, Carey Degear, continuing the woodcraft trade until they could no longer compete with an influx of new, cheaper, mass-produced furniture coming in from back east.

In 1946, Keith met Leona (Lee) Candaele. They were married the next year, and the year after that, Lana, their first of three children, was born. Tanis followed in 1955 and Colin in 1956.

Beginning with building his own house, Keith started working on other houses as a framer, a roofer and a carpenter, before realizing he had a talent for business and managing people, as well as an uncanny sense of timing. Beedie Construction was founded in 1954, and before long, the company was building houses in North and West Vancouver, then in Burnaby, and then in other areas of Metro Vancouver. In 1960, Beedie Construction began building the first of five PNE Prize Homes.

As the residential construction market sagged in the early 1960s, Keith expanded his company's reach by taking on industrial and commercial construction. Always looking for innovation, Keith went to California to learn about a new technique: "tilt-up" construction. Beedie Construction became Vancouver's leading tilt-up specialist, and took on bigger and more challenging projects.

Keith loved it. For him, it was the construction process, the people and the pride he took in each pin he added to the map in his office showing the company's builds.

Over the next half-century, what started with a small concrete-block workshop became more than 20-million square feet of development.

Keith and Lee divorced in 1963. That same year, Keith met Betty, and in 1966 they were married. His union with Betty was a turning point in Keith's life. Betty was Keith's rock. There is no question that what Keith accomplished would not have been possible without Betty. In 1968, Betty gave birth to Ryan – now president of Beedie Development.

Keith's work ethic – his determination to finish a job, no matter what it took, was a hallmark of his career. Keith prided himself on "my word is my bond" and that a handshake had the same effect as a signed, sealed and delivered contract.

After turning the reins of the company over to Ryan in 2001, Keith and Betty turned their attention towards "giving back" through The Keith and Betty Beedie Foundation. They donated $1.5 million for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine at Burnaby General Hospital.

The Foundation also established academic and athletic scholarships at Simon Fraser University and built the $1 million baseball diamond aptly named Beedie Field.

In 2011, Keith and Ryan donated $22 million to Simon Fraser University to establish the Beedie School of Business. In 2016, SFU conferred on Keith an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and Beedie Development was inducted into the Burnaby Business Hall of Fame.

Aside from growing his business and spending time with Betty, Keith was a dyed-in-the-wool Vancouver Canucks fan, dating back to their days in the Western League. He never missed a game when he was in town and was known for his booming voice and wearing the same green hat. Keith and Betty loved their annual trips to Hawaii, where they made and maintained many close friendships, and spent every other weekend at Whatcom Lake, where some were lucky enough to get a loaf of Keith's home-baked bread.

Keith Beedie leaves behind a legacy that is so much more than buildings and land assets. It is the example of a man who accomplished the extraordinary simply by believing it was possible.

Keith Beedie is survived by his cherished wife of fifty-one years, Betty Beedie, and his four children, Lana Brindley, Tanis Rubini (Ralph Rubini), Colin Beedie and Ryan Beedie (Cindy Beedie), as well as his ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
The Beedie family would like to thank Keith's nurse Anna Scheving, as well as Dr. Venter, Dr. Kang and Dr. Jones and all the support team from Burnaby General for their care and dedication.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider the Burnaby General Hospital Foundation http://www.bhfoundation.ca/