This has not been the start to 2016 that we’d all hoped for.
We are sad to report that Kyle Clack of Victory Motorcycles passed away on January 14, 2016 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor only a year earlier.
Before joining Victory Motorcycles, Kyle was with the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and was their Ride For Kids National Director, raising awareness and funds to fight this horrible disease. His efforts helped families all over North America to make memories and reach milestones that would not have been possible without the foundations assistance.
I had the pleasure of working with Kyle on a couple of occasions and it was immediately obvious he was passionate about life and his work. I owe him great thanks for one of the best rides I’ve ever been on, and without his help I would not have the wonderful memories I now cherish.
Robert Pandya of Indian Motorcycles posted the following eulogy on Facebook in honour of his friend and co-worker.
It is with the deepest of sadness combined with the appreciation for a life well-lived that we say goodbye to our friend Kyle Clack. On the morning of Thursday January 14th Kyle passed away from complications of a brain tumor diagnosed early last year.
It’s important to note that Kyle did not lose a battle, he in fact spent an entire life helping and winning and helping those he loved and many more he did not even know. Kyle has left this Earth a better place and was surrounded by loving friends as he headed off for his last adventure. To any measure, that is ending on a win.
Kyle’s passions and work were intertwined. His positive energy, limitless enthusiasm, quick laugh and genuine loving smile always resulted in friendship. Kyle’s impact on the World has been far greater than the average person. In his wake is immeasurable camaraderie and inspiration across the nation.
His work with the Ride for Kids helped deliver the vision of the late Mike and Dianne Traynor as well as millions of dollars towards research benefitting the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The impact of his work was not limited to fundraising, but the mutual benefit of elevating the stature of motorcyclists through the Ride for Kids events, including the millions of positive impressions left behind. Affected children and families felt that impact every event for nearly a decade, as did the amazing staff of riders and coordinators across the country.
Kyle was the kind of person who measurably accelerated when he saw a friend walking his direction. The kind of guy who would raise a glass of fine bourbon to toast the day, only after he was sure you had some too. Kyle’s spirit, passion, friendship and humility are simply models for the rest of us to follow in our own daily lives.
It’s undeniable that the world continues on and that death is the constant. Individual life is a short blip in the span of eons. Making the maximum impact, the most genuine of friends and leaving behind a legacy for other to act on is the best way to honor someone no longer with us in body, but who lives in our hearts every day.
Per Kyle’s wishes, it’s requested that any memorial be a donation to: Care Partners Solace
Kyle will be cremated in a private ceremony, and his ashes will become part of the wind and the Earth that he so loved.
In your next quiet moment, reflect on the legacy of a great and humble man, and let that memory propel you towards your own greater life, for if you were a friend of Kyle Clack you are one of the luckiest people you know.
