Maurice Embra
November 17th, 2012
Suddenly, with his wife and dear friends at his side, at Langley Memorial Hospital.
Maurice was born in Bolton, England, but left an expected life in the Lancashire cotton mills at age 16 to see the world in the Merchant Marine.
When he sailed into Vancouver harbour he fell in love with the city and emigrated in 1951. Self-taught as a cinematographer, he became part of the early Vancouver motion picture industry. He created and collaborated on many award-winning films and commercials in Vancouver, Toronto, the U.S. and Europe.
In the 60s, he teamed up with Bill Cunningham to become the CBC’s Far East correspondent team based out of Hong Kong. They covered the Vietnam war and were the first western news team to enter China after the Cultural Revolution. Returning to Vancouver in the 70s, he started his own film production company and created many memorable and award winning films and commercials. In the 80s, his interest in creating unusual camera mounts led to a business of designing and building specialty mounts for the motion picture industry, many of which are in use throughout the globe. On the day of his death he was still drawing, designing, and working in his shop.
Maurice was a creative man, a visionary, a painter, a passionate photographer, and in the words of a close friend "the kindest man I have ever met."
He is deeply loved and dearly missed by his wife Ann and her extended family, his son Joe, his brother Louis (Mary) of Wales and brother Ken
(Barbara) of England, his former wife Audrey Russell (Eric), Marlene, Herman and many other close friends, and his dogs Rolley, Lani and Sparky.
Grateful thanks from the family to the paramedics and ER staff at Langley Memorial for their compassionate care.
At Maurice’s insistence, there will be no services. A donation in his memory can be made to the Canadian Diabetes Association or the BCSPCA.
You are invited to leave a personal message of condolence.
Messages:
I will forever cherish wonderful memories of Maurice. The times that we came out to Langley to visit Maurice and Ann were always filled with laughter, warmth and fascinating, broad-ranging conversations. We talked about Asia, about politics, about movies and the news, about the animals....often over a gin martini or two before Ann's wonderful supper! Always busy, always with a new project on the go, always interested in what was going on in your life, Maurice was a joy to be around. I will miss him very much.
Dear Ann, I have thought about you and Maurice so often over the last few years and am so sorry to hear of your loss. My heart goes out to you and Joe. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you through this trying time. Love Bertie
My sympathies to Maurice's family. In having only recently met Ann, I want to send my best wishes, support and love to her and everyone in the family. It is so hard to lose a loved one. My heart goes out to you. I only hope that with each day that passes, you can breathe a little easier, sleep a little more restful, find laughter through tears and find a smile through sorrow. My thoughts are with you. Kirsten Palmer
Maurice, our wonderful friend. We miss him so much - words can't even describe how much. Maurice added so much to our lives and has left us with countless fond and funny memories of times shared together. We loved him very much. Marlene and Hermann