Eduard Festel (1951 – 2016)
	
Eduard Festel was born in Switzerland. He moved to Canada and became an experienced bush pilot and backcountry guide. He built the Frances Lake Wilderness Lodge in 1985. He met his future wife, Claire Briand, in 1994. Ed and Claire both died of multiple myeloma, a cancer in the white blood plasma cells. The couple owned property in Whitehorse including a 23-unit apartment building, Alpine View, on 5th Avenue. Eduard’s will directed that the proceeds of the sale of this building be given to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation which works with the Penticton Region Hospital in British Columbia. The $1 million gift was a surprise to the hospital fundraising agency. The money will go to a new patient care tower, estimated as costing $312 million, and will buy medical equipment for cancer care. The Festels will be honoured with a commemorative plaque and the second floor of the hospital tower will be named in their honour.((Phillipe Morin, “Yukon couple leaves $1M to help cancer patients.” //CBC News,// 2020 website: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-couple-leaves-1m-to-help-cancer-patients-1.4486003.))