Wayne Mullins

On September 11, Wayne slipped out the back door and departed life on Earth to continue his journey, as he said, to the Unknown. Seen by many as a patient and gentle man, Wayne's world was full of quiet curiosity guided by his unwavering empathy and kindness.

Wayne was a lifelong learner who never gave up on finding what moved him - he always sought out new experiences and opportunities to grow. Born in Vancouver and raised in New Westminster, Wayne graduated from Lester Pearson High in 1963. Music was important in his early years, playing alto saxophone and flute in Fred Turner's band. As a teen, he formed a Kingston Trio-style band where he sang and played guitar and banjo.

After graduating from UBC in 1967 with a BA (economics), Wayne joined Canada's intelligence service in Ottawa as an economist.

In 1969, Wayne volunteered with CUSO, applying his skill as an economist to identify development opportunities in Tanga, Tanzania. Not surprisingly, Wayne immersed himself in Swahili culture and learned the language from local children. In 1971 he became CUSO's Tanzania Field Officer administering CUSO activities in Tanzania, bringing him in contact with the country's founding president Julius Nyerere. Wayne's Tanzanian experiences solidified his desire to find a career where he could make a difference.

After returning to Canada, Wayne obtained a UBC law degree, articled, was called to the bar (1978), and practiced as a solicitor - but drafting volumes of legal documents just wasn't his thing. He sought face to face contact with people and the challenges they faced.

Wayne's 35 years-long public service career commenced with BC's early 1980's Vietnamese refugee settlement program, followed by resolving non-union employment-related disputes. He then landed his dream career - almost three decades with BC's Labour Relations Board. As LRB's chair Jennifer Glougie noted "Wayne was able to bring parties to resolution the same way he did everything: quietly, thoughtfully and gently."

A loving husband and father, Wayne doted on his family, supporting, and joining them in all their activities. He enjoyed summers on Thetis Island and family vacations in Hawaii. His many hobbies and interests included: gardening, sailing, swimming, photography, listening to the radio, and attending in person and online lectures on an assortment of topics. Wayne was always learning and doing.

Wayne found freedom in nature, beauty in the overlooked, and comfort in understanding how different things worked. He is survived by his wife Sandra, daughter Alexandra (Jacob), brother Gary (Doreen) and their children Garth (Lisa) and Gillian, sister-in-law Virginia (Greg) and their children Mary (Duncan) and Steven (Lai Cheng), and sister-in-law Sylvia and her sons Warren (Fatma) and Derek (Priscilla) and their respective children.

From the time of his June diagnosis of metastatic melanoma, Wayne was without pain and visited by family and friends. He will always be remembered as someone who treated all beings with patience, compassion, and reverence.

He is greatly missed and loved.