John Lecky

John MacMillan Stirling Lecky (born August 29, 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia - died Tuesday, February 25, 2003 in Calgary, Alberta) was a Canadian rower, entrepreneur and philanthropist equally at home on both sides of the Atlantic.

At the age of 20, he won a silver medal for Canada as part of the eight-man rowing crew at the 1960 Summer Olympics in 1960. He then went to Cambridge where he rowed at number 5 in the winning boat races against Oxford in 1962 and 1964.

At the same time, Lecky was a member of the Canadian rugby team which toured the British Isles, surprising his tutors by appearing on television in a match against England when they could not remember him asking permission to be absent from the university in term time.

Lecky also won in record time the Goblets coxless pairs at Henley in 1964 with John Keily; and 13 years later, he competed in the event again, reaching the finals. After retiring from rowing, Lecky became an active member of the executive board of the Canadian Olympic Association, and was chef de mission of the Canadian Olympic Team in Los Angeles. By ruthless attention to detail, he helped Canada to win 44 medals, its largest number ever.

John MacMillan Stirling Lecky was born in Vancouver on August 29 1940, the descendant of a Quaker family which was involved in the Irish jute industry and included the 19th-century historian and MP William Edward Hartpole Lecky. John was the eldest grandson of the timber and paper baron H R MacMillan, who made clear to him the importance of setting demanding goals in life and of applying hard work and iron self-discipline to achieve them.

It was at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island that his lifelong love of rugby was kindled through a training session conducted by the English scrum half, Dicky Jeeps, who was on a tour with the British Lions.

Lecky started to row while studying Economics at the University of British Columbia. While reading Law at Jesus College, Cambridge, he was in the two winning crews against Oxford, and he was also President of the Hawks Club. In 1964 he was awarded the Mackenzie King Scholarship in International Law.

Lecky began his business career as an investment analyst with Greenshields in Montreal in 1965. Seven years later, he formed the Resource Service Group, a company whose diverse operations over the years have included well-head services and petroleum exploration. In 1979, his group took a one-third interest in Westgrowth Petroleum, and a year later he moved his company to Calgary.

Lecky aided John Crosbie in his unsuccessful campaign for the federal Progressive Conservative leadership in 1983, but made his mark most notably in business. He became chairman and principal shareholder of the charter airline Canada 3000.

This grew to be the second largest in Canada, flying into Gatwick and Manchester. The company took record bookings on September 10 2001, but had to close within two months of the September 11, 2001 attacks in America the following day.

Lecky also became a keen mountaineer in later life, climbing in the Rockies and in the Alps. In 1993, he reached 23,000 ft without oxygen on Masa Gang, in Bhutan. He also climbed Aconcagua in Chile, and Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in Africa.

John Lecky married first Elizabeth Buxton, whose father was his rowing coach; secondly Frances Ferguson; and thirdly Effie Hepple. He is survived by five children of his second marriage.