UPDATE: The campaign has hit the $20,000 mark and is still going strong.
A Burnaby father who ran in the last federal election has drowned while on vacation in Australia, and his sister is raising money online to help his widowed wife and infant daughter.
Chris Tylor, who ran under the Libertarian banner in Burnaby North-Seymour, worked for B.C. Hydro and lived in Burnaby.
Tylor’s sister Dale is hoping to raise $20,000 through GoFundMe.com, and by Monday afternoon, the total was more than $17,000.
“He was his own man,” his sister Dale told the NOW, “a nice person and caring and generous. He ran in that election for the Libertarian party. He really believed in a lot of the Libertarian ideals. I think it takes a special person to run when the battle is so uphill and you know you’re not going to win it, but he felt he wanted to provide a voice and an option for people who had other beliefs that were important.”
Tylor drowned this past weekend, while on vacation in Australia. He went swimming in the ocean and was caught in a rip tide. He left behind his wife of four years and their new baby, born in April.
Dale said the thing that made her brother the most happy was his family.
“(He) and his wife had a really great love for each other. She’s very devastated. She’s from Australia originally, and her family is all over there. She doesn’t have a lot of family support in Vancouver,” Dale said.
Dale is hoping the money will make things easier on her brother’s widow and their eight-month-old baby.
“We’ve really been pretty amazed, and what people have been generous enough to give, but really at the end of the day, it’s really about people telling their stories about my brother,” Dale said. “I think he touched people’s lives but in a quieter way. I just feel it’s nice he’s getting a little recognition.”
To donate to the cause, go to www.gofundme.com/christylor.
