Manojlo (Mike)
Manojlovic
January 27, 1930 ~
January 27, 2015
Manojlo (Nechako Mike) Manojlovic passed away peacefully in the presence of his loving family at Kelowna General Hospital January 27, 2015. Manojlo is survived by his wife of 45 years Ljiljana, his children Stan, Violeta (Michael), Michael (Julie), his treasured grandchildren, Olivia, Marcus, Emily, Lucas, his sister Jovanka, and his extended family consisting of his nieces,
Ruza (Vladan), Nada (Nikola), his grandnephew and nieces,
Vido (Melissa), Mira, Tina (Kim), Stana (James), Uros and their children Noah, Kamryn and Kendall.
Mike immigrated from former Yugoslavia as a young man and came to Canada in 1961. Determined to make a success of himself and to leave a legacy for his family, he initially landed in Vancouver and shortly after moved to the central interior to pursue better opportunities. Once in PG, after a number of years, he formed a partnership with Lloyd Larsen Sr. as owners of PG Studs.
In 1971 Mike and Lloyd settled in Vanderhoof, and together with Bob Stewart and Ivan Andersen purchased Nechako Lumber Co. Ltd. In 1972, the four families along with Torall and Gene Scott, designed and built a modern and efficient small log studmill, L&M Lumber Ltd. to supply rough lumber to Nechako Lumber Co. Ltd. The two companies grew steadily and became known throughout the forest industry for producing the highest quality studs.
Always a tireless proponent of innovation, in 1988, Mike and the shareholders began planning to form a third company, Premium Pellet Ltd, for the purpose of utilizing wood waste produced by Nechako and L&M Lumber. This project also led to the creation of a fourth company, Nechako Green Energy Ltd., which was the first of its kind in North America and won the 2014 Power Smart Award for Outstanding Energy Efficiency. Mike retired in 2010.
Nechako Mike lived a full life and always remarked that he did pretty well for someone (from the old country) with just a fourth grade education. He was a fearless and driven individual, a true pioneer of his age. He was the first in many great innovations to improve lumber manufacturing and was often imitated but never duplicated.
A celebration of life for Manojlo will be held February 14th, 2015 at 3:00pm in the NVSS gymnasium in Vanderhoof. Afterward there will be an informal dinner/drinks celebration party in the gymnasium with a shuttle service and designated drivers available.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to St. John’s Hospital in
Vanderhoof.