Poole died last Friday after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, just hours after the torch was lit at Olympia for February's Games.

 

He was 76.

 

The funeral service at a downtown Vancouver church was kept private at the family's request.

 

But business partner David Podmore, who succeeded Poole as head of the development firm Concert Properties Ltd., read a statement from his wife Darlene on behalf of the family.

 

It said: "Our family has known that the last two years have been very precious years for us.

 

"Jack died knowing that the Olympic flame had been lit and comforted that the Games are in the best of hands.

 

"His spirit will live on in the Games that lie ahead in just 108 days.''

 

Among those who attended the service were Canadian Sport Minister Gary Lunn and former Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen.

 

The speakers included Poole's daughter Gwen, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell and Vancouver 2012 chief executive John Furlong.

 

The Vancouver police pipe band played as the casket was taken from the church, followed by Poole's family.

 

Campbell, who like Poole had worked as a property developer and who chosen him to lead Vancouver's Olympic bid in 2001, departed clearly upset.

 

 

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