The Entrepreneur Years: Part 2

Most of Peter’s working life he either was an entrepreneur or planned to be one. He created many small firms, mostly in the marketing and PR space. I still have business cards from some of his endeavors, and I recall most of the others because Peter talked business—a lot!

This is the second in a series about his businesses. Some of you who read this may remember stories and anecdotes. Feel free to add them in the comments.

The Entrepreneur Years: Part 1

Most of Peter’s working life he either was an entrepreneur or planned to be one. He created many small firms, mostly in the marketing and PR space. I still have business cards from some of his endeavors, and I recall most of the others because Peter talked business—a lot!

Wise Words from James T. Kirk

In 2016, William Shatner released a book about his years with the late Leonard Nimoy. When explaining why he wrote the book, Shatner said, “When you lose someone you love, someone you’ve shared experiences with, you no longer have that person to say ‘remember when?’ And if you can’t validate that memory, you gradually lose that memory. The whole experience begins to dissolve unless you write it down.”

Missing the Conversation

On this fifth anniversary of Peter's passing, I think once again how I miss not being able to tell him what I am up to. We used to regularly trade email and phone calls, or share a pint if in the same town.

I write this from a secluded lodge in the southwest corner of Costa Rica.  The message was uploaded through a feeble hotspot hosted by the lodge cell phone. 

Anniversary 2015 Get-Together

On February 1, several of Pete’s fans came together at our place (Shaun and Amelia in Pakenham, Ontario) to play in the winter snow, eat, drink and talk about Peter. We agreed to co-author this blog post.

The Summer of ‘77

The summer of 1977 often comes to mind. Peter and I (Shaun) and two of our mutual friends—Al Page and Ron Scammell—all lived in the Beach area of Toronto. Back then the community had not over-gentrified and the shops, restaurants and bars still had a village quality to them.

In ’77, I was recently separated and 25. Pete was single and 22. We both worked at least part time for a student publication edited by Ron. Living close to the lake and its beaches that summer gave a cottage feel to our lives. Often several of us played a game we invented called Frisbee golf—we’d select distant trees or objects and count how many throws it took to hit the target. Like real golf, the lower the count the better.

Music Man Peter

Back in the 70s and early 80s, Peter, I (Shaun) and Jim Larocque regularly jammed together. I taped many of the sessions, first on an old Akai reel-to-reel and later on a cassette deck. Some of those tapes survived in the bottom of drawers and back of shelves.

Peter Past and Present

On the sad occasion of the first anniversary of Peter's passing, I decided to post another happy memory of the past and an update on Peter's impact on the present.

The "P. Lug" Cup - Peter Vanderlee Memorial Trophy

We (Peter's old hockey mates) created the P.Lug Cup trophy for an annual memorial hockey challenge as part of our regular Sunday morning Rocket hockey (in Weston, Ontario, Canada).

Peter enjoyed many years/beers at Rocket hockey when he came to town; so we're sure he would be laughing at the fact we spray painted his actual jock cup and mounted it on a trophy.

Peter’s farewell tour: Stop #5, Rupert, Quebec

Saturday, June 11th was the last of the five (yup, he had a very wide net!) stops on the Big Pete's Farewell Tour.