Vancouver Foundation

F a l l 2 0 1 5 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l p a g e 1 7 Michael Gordon wears many hats. He's an avid skate- boarder, a professor and an amateur documentary filmmaker. He's also a City of Vancouver planner, and has devoted his career to shaping the city and its evolution into one of the country's most vibrant and exciting urban centres. ough Gordon was born in Ontario, he has worked as a Vancouver city planner for 35 years – the last two decades as senior planner for the down- town peninsula, an area with one of the highest population den- sities among North American cities. Now, Gordon is taking his passion for Vancouver a step fur- ther by dedicating a portion of his estate to two endowment funds, established recently at Vancouver Foundation and ear- marked for helping university students and urban youth. Civic duty and leaving a legacy are important to Gordon. Vancouver has been the focus of his professional life, and is also where the Gordon family roots run deep. His grandfather's old- est brother owned a haberdashery in the Fraser Canyon com- munity of Boston Bar. Afterwards, he relocated to the then- frontier port city of Vancouver to open a shop on Carrall Street, and went on to be named to the city's first voters' list and also serve as a school trustee. "When it came to writing up a will, my family was very sup- portive of the idea of establishing these funds," says Gordon, 61, who is an adjunct professor at the University of British Colum- bia's School of Community and Regional Planning, where he teaches housing policy. After careful consideration, Gordon chose to create two funds. His strong belief in the value of post-secondary education is the impetus behind the Gordon Family Education Fund. As a young man in Ontario, he earned a bachelor of environmental studies in urban and regional planning from the University of Waterloo, before moving to Vancouver where he pursued a master of science in community and regional planning at UBC. Gordon believes studying abroad and attending academic conferences provided the opportunity for a powerful exchange of ideas that enriched his education (he attended Neuchâtel Junior College in Switzerland as a Grade 12 student.) roughout his working life, he has always looked beyond his city to share ideas and best practices with col- leagues and peers, and has lectured on urban planning and design in cities as diverse as Memphis and Montreal. Gordon hopes his fund will help select university students to enhance their educa- tion in a similar fashion. Young at heart Gordon also has a passionate interest in the lives of city teenagers, in both his professional and non-professional life. So it's not sur- prising that his second fund, the Gordon Family Youth Park and Recreation Fund, has youth in mind. According to Gordon, one of the marks of a great city is that it is comfortable, safe and ful- filling for young families. However, through his community involvement and planning duties, he still regularly encounters at-risk and street-involved youth in Vancouver. Gordon's empathy for the city's young people deepened when he became hooked on skateboarding at the age of 47 – ripe in skateboarding terms, and a time of life when most of his middle- aged friends were considering golf club memberships rather than perfecting ollies and kickflips at the skate park. Gordon's immersion in skateboarding also exposed him to skater culture's unique blend of music, fashion and attitude, which at times can be at odds with formal government structures. at's why he sat on the board of Vancouver Skate for 12 years, ensuring that skating interests and concerns were given a voice at City Hall while helping to nurture a less antagonistic and more positive relationship between the skating community and the establish- ment, be it business owners or city officialdom. "I remember in 1965 being quite interested in skateboarding but none of my friends were into it. Instead, I took it up in mid- life and I actually got quite good at it," Gordon says, admitting that he has toned down the skateboarding a little since hitting his seventh decade. "e body gets a little stiffer these days."

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