PATTISON, William Brien

1932 – 2015

It is with gratitude for his life and sorrow at his passing, that the family of William Brien Pattison, announce his death on September 4. Bill was predeceased by his parents J.W. (Jack) and Kathryn Tonkin Pattison. He is survived by his loving wife Marilyn (nee Smith), his son Brien and his daughter Sarah, as well as his granddaughter Julia Hodgkinson. He is also survived by his children’s mother, Wendy Roberts, and by the extended Smith family. Bill was raised in Vancouver, attended Vancouver College and was a graduate of Cornell and Harvard Universities. Bill bought his first hotel in Lewiston, Idaho, for a dollar down and sold it two years later for the same amount. The profit was ‘in the learning’. In 1962 along with four partners Bill founded Delta Hotels Ltd and remained president until the sale of the company in 1988. In those twenty-six years Delta grew from one hotel in Richmond, B.C. to a national chain with hotels in seven provinces and Florida. From 1988 until recently Bill provided consulting services to the hotel industry and associated real estate investment companies through Pattison Information Inc. In 1999 Bill and Marilyn moved from Toronto to Victoria where Bill headed the Hotel Programme in the Faculty of Business at the University of Victoria as a volunteer Adjunct Professor, and then acted as a special adviser to the President of Royal Roads University. In addition to serving on a number of corporate boards, Bill valued his community responsibilities as a volunteer. He served as chair of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and was the first Canadian Co-chair of the Canada Japan Business Association (Tourism sector). Bill was chair of the Board of Governors of Ryerson Polytechnic and later joined the board of Guelph University. He was also on the board of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. Until recently he was on the boards of the B.C. Paraplegic Foundation and the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra. Bill was a hotelier, an entrepreneur, a volunteer and throughout his life a mentor and educator. In a tribute on his 75th birthday, a leader in the industry wrote that Bill’s true legacy was the number of people he helped develop and support through the various stages of their professional careers who now have leadership roles in international hotel companies. Bill’s achievements speak to his strength and commitment. His family will remember creative landscaping at Galiano and Lake of Bays, picnics on ‘The Brieny’, fishing at Pennask, and travels around the world. He will be missed. A funeral service will be held at Christ Church Cathedral, on Quadra St. at Rockland, in Victoria on Friday, September 11, 2015 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation would be appreciated. McCall’s of Victoria, BC (1-800-870-4210)

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