VLADIMIR ALEXANDER PLAVSIC “VLAD THE GREAT” - Augest 28, 1930 - October 22, 2014


ATTEMPTING TO SUM UP VLAD PLAVSIC IS IMPOSSIBLE.
His life did not lend itself to arithmetical exercises, or anything else that was quantitative. His life was qualitative all the way. And if there is one thought that describes the infinite stretch of his character, it is simply this:
I have never known a man I could
so implicitly trust, and so unabashedly revere.
He was the original, “One Off”.
There could never be another.
Vlad held the patent ­and all of us are better for it.
Not only for what he did, but for what he was -- as an architect of note, the family man beyond reason, a character straight out of fiction­ in the sense that he invented himself as he went along. He made all of us ---who knew him for an afternoon, a week, a life time­ seem special ­more involved than we expected to be better sailors­ better friends than we knew how to be. You never spent a lazy afternoon with Vlad.
In his company, whatever occupied his mind and body, you were made to feel part of an admirable human adventure.

AND THEN THERE ARE THE MEMORIES HE LEFT US.
Allow me to be personal for a moment. We were both jazz fans, but Vlad only mentioned it in passing. The first time he visited my house in Deep Cove, I saw him looking at a photo I had of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, then the world’s top jazz attraction. When I attempted to explain his music to my guest, he floored me with his response: “Yeah, Yeah, ” he said, ”I used to be in his trumpet section….” Then he told me the details about filling in for an absent trumpeter for two weeks on the road. If he had told me that Christ had temporarily invited him to be one if his Disciples, I couldn’t be more surprised. This quintet of ace trumpet players was very special, playing in registers so high and difficult to play that at times only dogs could hear the music – and here was Vlad revealing another of his many talents….

HE WAS A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. We are his children and as friends have inherited his greatest gift: that once he believed in you, you believed in yourself.
Sitting there in his sea-side castle, pasha-like, quick-tempered, lovable---and above all, irreplaceable – that was Vlad. Like most “One-Offers” he was a rare companion who made the world seem more manageable. (But when I look back on our friendship, I realize that I am wrong. If the world really was manageable, he would still be with us, so that we could bask in his reflection ­instead of only memories…
He was not a man for all seasons and did not fit the temper of his times. He believed in himself with a strength of will that most of us can only imagine. His instinct for fairness was an essential part of his character-- his vitality, his personal courage, his wit and belly-pumping laughter, his dedication to his many crafts ­are the legacy that we must honour.

WHEN I FIRST MET HIM, I was much younger and thought that my world would be populated with lots of good men. But as I grow old, I realize two things: that in fact there are very few truly good men, and that I am forever grateful for having known one…. GOD BLESS, VLAD...watch that jib line… - Peter C Newman

There will be a Celebration of Life on Thursday October 30th at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club at 1pm.