Years ago when I was Program Director at C-FUN someone asked me about Fred Latremouille. My response was “Once in a lifetime someone comes along with great talent, great looks and an all round professional who could do just about everything. But why did he have to come along in my lifetime?” It was a joke because Fred and I were friends and I could get away with it.

Carole and I returned from Palm Springs Thursday night to hundreds of emails with the news that Fred had died. It was a shock… and yet in a way it wasn’t. Fred emailed 10 days before we took off for the desert that he had bad news from his doctor. His liver was damaged and he would have to stop drinking wine or pay the ultimate price. In typical Fred fashion he concluded the email by saying, “But I love my wine!” That last sentence was scary. The habit started years ago when he suffered from various ailments related to his early cancer radiation. It eventually prevented him from playing golf as the post-radiation affected his bones. He never gave up swimming and made a habit of going every day.

When Fred was first diagnosed with cancer, he must have been in his early 20’s. My late son Jeff and I would visit him at his mother’s home in West Vancouver. Fred never forgot the visits. He really took a liking to Jeff and always asked about him.

In the early 60’s Fred and I co-hosted CBC‘s national TV show Let’s Go. It was a great opportunity for the two of us to work together, and we became friends with many on the show including Terry and Susan Jacks, Howie Vickers, Miles Ramsay and so many great and talented people.

In 1993 I decided to do morning radio again, this time on CISL. By that time AM was losing music listeners to FM. Fred was a great competitor on KISS FM and by then he was the number one radio personality in the city.

One of Fred’s closest friends was Wayne Cox, and when Wayne heard that Fred was slipping away he flew to Arizona to spend time with his ailing friend and to support Fred’s wife Cathy. Now that is a true friend and Wayne is that kind of a guy. I have never met anyone so sincere. A great guy.

Many images have appeared in my mind since the news hit me yesterday. Pictures of the C-FUN Good Guys, our time together on Let’s Go and the good times we shared in Hawaii. I will cherish his memory for the rest of my life.

I especially liked this tribute from another Vancouver radio legend, Doc Harris:

“Here was a guy with a mind so huge he did it all out of his head. The rest of us lugged in notebooks, scraps of paper, and scrawls on napkins to keep our ideas in front of us. Fred stored all his stuff in his frontal lobes. He was also the most charming man you ever met, unless you were in management and incompetent (and too thick to know you were seriously outgunned). I always enjoyed working and playing with him, because you knew whatever happened it would be entertaining. The worst thing about this: his health problems were a result of primitive medical treatment he received decades ago. Gonna miss ya, Freddie. You were always a ray of sunshine when things got dark.”

Fred Latremouille was truly… one of life’s Good Guys.