Remembering TV cameraman Denis Faucon
By KEVEN DREWS
UCLUELET B.C. (CP) - Denis Faucon's friends celebrated his life by retiring his beer mug.
Inside Canmore, Alta.'s Grizzly Paw Brewing Company about 30 people gathered last week to honour Faucon, a loyal friend, a nationally respected TV cameraman and an avid sportsman.
"It was sad," said Martin Tough, a friend of two years. "Those nights are never good. It was just friends remembering, crying, whatever else. He left a lot of good friends, a lot of good feelings."
Faucon, a 45-year-old Canmore resident and freelance cameraman, died April 2 in Ucluelet, B.C., a small community on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
His body was found floating in the ocean, just off a popular hiking trail.
Foul play is not suspected.
News of his death shocked friends and broadcasters from B.C. to Ontario.
"It's pretty tough," said Greg Shannon, a Vancouver-based producer with Rogers Sportsnet. "There was a (hockey) game scheduled in Calgary the day the news broke. He was scheduled to work it. We did a little 30-second tribute to him."
Born in Blind River, Ont. to parents Claire and Raymond Faucon, Denis grew up in Sudbury before attending college in North Bay.
In his 20s, he worked for CTV affiliates in Kitchener and Montreal.
He left CTV to pursue a freelance career but returned to Global Toronto in the mid-1990s.
After a short stint with Global, Faucon returned to freelance work, covering Olympic and Pan Am Games and shooting for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and Rogers Sportsnet.
Drawn by its mountains, he moved to Canmore two years ago.
"He basically worked all the big events," said Shannon. "As good as he was at his job - and he was as good as anybody - he was a better person."
Theresa van Hoot, a long-time friend now living in Brandon, Man., met Faucon 17 years ago when both worked in the broadcast industry in Toronto.
Long after she moved to Manitoba, Faucon stayed in touch sending birthday
