Joachim "Joe" Hartz

I am sad to announce the death of Joe, my husband of 50 years.

Born and raised in Kiel, Germany, Joe immigrated to Canada as a young man.  After a short stay in Toronto, he lived in Calgary for 4 years when weekends saw him driving his Porsche to Banff.  He then headed west again, to Vancouver.  While teaching data processing at BCIT, he fell for me, one of his students, Gillian, and we later married.

After an exciting 18-month tour of Europe in our VW camper van (with an original and ingenious design by Joe), we settled in Burnaby for 14 years before moving to Mission.

At the age of 80, Joe died suddenly at home in Mission of a heart attack following a period of ill-health.  He is survived in Germany by his sister Maren (Horst) Arendt, niece Judith (Alexander) and great-niece Lucia, and by cousins Carla, Anne-Katrin and Ulrich Flachmeyer.

Joe’s greatest loves were classical music, nature and studying the universe.  He was a kind and gentle man with a beautiful soul.

Joachim war ein lieber Mann mit einer schönen Seele.

Thank you, my love, for the music.

There will be no service.

You are invited to leave a personal message of condolence for the family.