John Michael Patterson

Mike was born in Vancouver to parents Dr. Frank Porter Patterson and Dora Hush Patterson. With his sister Pam, he grew up in Shaughnessy and Kerrisdale, attending Prince of Wales Elementary (now Shaughnessy Elementary) and from Grade 5, St. George’s.

He enrolled at UBC at the age of 16. During the summers, he worked as a timber cruiser which gave him a love of the forest that never diminished. He graduated from UBC with a Master’s Degree in Geography.

His early career saw him working with the GVRD planning department and the UBC Computing Centre. In 1988 Mike became the first General Manager of BCNet, the first Internet Service Provider in the province. He would go on to hold executive positions with commercial Internet service providers, and later worked as an IT and Wi-Fi consultant. Mike saw the Internet as world-changing - he often remarked, “The Internet will change the way we do everything.”

Mike’s passions included hockey, photography and hiking. He excelled as a handyman, becoming adept at auto maintenance, carpentry, electrical wiring, tiling and painting, even re-roofing the family home with cedar shakes.

Mike is survived by his wife, Mary; son Robert (Kai Ying); daughter Rebecca (Anthony); sister Pam; and loving extended family including Reg & Sharon, Wendi, Teresa & Dusan, Carole and Peter, and Walter & Dianne.

The family would like to thank the entire staff at the UBC Movement Disorders Clinic for their care and kindness over the past years as Mike battled Parkinson’s Disease.