Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2006 / August / 12 / UBC Okanagan cancer research award created in memory of Kelowna’s Bill Tymchuk

UBC Okanagan cancer research award created in memory of Kelowna’s Bill Tymchuk

August 12, 2006

Kelowna resident Leida Tymchuk has established a new endowment to support cancer prevention research at UBC Okanagan, in memory of her late husband Bill Tymchuk.

Consisting of a $20,000 initial gift and an annual contribution of $5,000, the Bill Tymchuk Cancer Research Award will be used to fund research by faculty and students at UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Health and Social Development.

“This endowment is so important — by 2010 cancer will become the single greatest cause of death in Canada, yet we know that 50 per cent of cancers are preventable,” said Dr. Joan Bottorff, Dean of Health and Social Development in announcing the endowment.

“We want to build research programs and prepare the next generation of researchers for the work that lies ahead in finding a cure and better ways to support healthy lifestyles.”

In 1976, Bill Tymchuk founded Tymchuk, Brown and Hattori, a Kelowna law firm, and later became a financial consultant with CIBC Wood Gundy in Kelowna. He fought lung cancer for two and a half years, but passed away in July 2005 at the age of 54.

“Cancer seems to be diagnosed at much younger ages than I remember,” said Leida Tymchuk. “When you’ve spent as much time at the chemotherapy ward at the cancer centre as my husband and I have, you see how it affects families. Children live with the fear of losing their parent, income is either reduced or lost and then there’s the issue of coping with the cancer treatments.”

“One of the ways I dealt with the sadness of my husband’s cancer diagnosis was to think of how many other families were also fighting cancer. Hopefully with additional research in cancer prevention, future families may be spared.”

Bill Tymchuk’s colleagues at CIBC Wood Gundy are also contributing $7,000 to the new endowment. “We are very happy to honour Bill’s memory by making this contribution,” said Brock Aynsley, manager of the Kelowna CIBC Wood Gundy office.

Dr. Bottorff invited others to consider making a donation to the Bill Tymchuk Cancer Research Award and noted that as more contributions are added, “this endowment will continue to provide resources for students and faculty to pilot new ideas — and do the necessary ground work for taking research in new directions to help make cancer history.”

— 30 —

Media Contact

Bud Mortenson
Director
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250-807-9255
E-mail: bud.mortenson@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Uncategorized

Trending Stories

  • UBCO’s Emergency First Responder Team saves student’s life
  • UBCO celebrates the graduates of 2022
  • Gold-medal tennis player, human rights activist win UBCO honours
  • A Rebalancing Act
  • Family ties run tight for the close-knit McBride clan
All Stories
Contact Media Relations

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility