{"id":830632,"date":"2026-07-28T04:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830632\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T04:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:15:15","slug":"b-c-man-who-devoted-nearly-three-decades-to-rescuing-strangers-dies-in-squamish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830632\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. man who devoted nearly three decades to rescuing strangers dies in Squamish"},"content":{"rendered":"

A devoted partner and caring father who spent nearly three decades volunteering his time to rescue strangers has died while mountain biking in Squamish. <\/p>\n

Michael Coyle, 56, was found unresponsive on a trail.<\/p>\n

Sylvia Fuller, his partner of more than 20 years, said despite the best efforts of other riders who found him and Squamish paramedics, he died on Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no sign of any kind of crash, he just collapsed basically,\u201d Fuller said. <\/p>\n

Coyle, who lived in Squamish and Burnaby, was part of Coquitlam Search and Rescue for 28 years. Many say he’s had an immense impact on B.C.’s rescue community.<\/p>\n

\"AIn addition to Coquitlam Search and Rescue, Coyle has also spent time volunteering with other rescue teams in the province. (Submitted by Sylvia Fuller)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just cared about people, and it was the big things with the search and rescue, but it was also just like the little things,\u201d Fuller said.<\/p>\n

From helping strangers to taking care of his family, Coyle showed up and never complained, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such a good dad. He was so devoted to his son.”<\/p>\n

Condolences poured in on Monday, remembering Coyle for his kindness, leadership, and dedication to helping others. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes as a shock. We\u2019re all just in a state of disbelief,\u201d said Nick Zupan, president of Coquitlam Search and Rescue.<\/p>\n

When he was 25, Coyle\u00a0discovered<\/a> he had a\u00a0genetic\u00a0disease that would leave his kidneys riddled with cysts by age 50. <\/p>\n

He asked for help finding a potential organ donor<\/a>\u00a0on social media, and within days received messages from people wanting to help. <\/p>\n

In 2019, Coyle told CBC News<\/a>, “It was a very emotional thing. I told my partner. This person wants to give me a kidney.”<\/p>\n

He asked for help finding a potential organ donor on social media, and within days received messages from people wanting to help <\/p>\n

Fuller said a member of the SAR community came forward as a donor, and Coyle’s kidney transplant gave him his life back.<\/p>\n

Loss felt ‘far and wide’ <\/p>\n

Coyle also worked as a software engineer and spent time volunteering with other rescue teams in the province, helping them with their technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s always been a leader in that,\u201d Zupan said. \u201cAs far as our website and IT support for our team, he\u2019s been instrumental.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Coyle was a passionate advocate for safety in B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s been a member of the outdoor community here since he was a young kid, so the impact of this is far and wide.”<\/p>\n

Zupan and Coyle worked closely with North Shore Rescue before developing their own long-line helicopter rescue program.<\/p>\n

Together, they made up the long-line helicopter rescue team for the 2010 Olympic Games in Whistler.<\/p>\n

\"FiveCoyle, centre, had a large presence online, engaging with people about safety and tried to make the world a better place, according to his partner, Sylvia Fuller. (Coquitlam SAR)<\/p>\n

In 2019, Coyle received the Sovereign\u2019s Medal for Volunteers for his dedication to assisting people who were lost or injured in the backcountry, along with his work advancing search and rescue methods and technology.<\/p>\n

Long-time friend Brent Calkin, a team leader with Lions Bay Search and Rescue, said he first met Coyle at a mutual-aid search and rescue callout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very happy to actually have known him in person and had a very warm friendship with him,\u201d Calkin said, adding that Coyle had a legendary impact in B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such an amazing and tireless source of information and thoughtful information for the entire search and rescue community.”<\/p>\n

Creating an alert system for people with dementia<\/p>\n

Back in 2013, Coyle was on a search for an elderly man who had dementia, who was never found. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really affected by that, and so he did something about it,\u201d Fuller said. <\/p>\n

Coyle worked with Sam Noh, whose father was the man who disappeared, to create B.C. Silver Alert, a public notification system for when a person with dementia, autism, or cognitive issues goes missing.<\/p>\n

\"AIn addition to his rescue volunteer work, Michael Coyle also helped develop an alert system that notifies the public when a person with dementia, autism, or cognitive issues goes missing. (Submitted by Sylvia Fuller)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave countless hours to supporting families, raising awareness, advocating for change, and improving the response for vulnerable missing adults,\u201d Noh said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis dedication and determination were instrumental in bringing the B.C. Silver Alert to life and advocating for vulnerable missing adults and their families.”<\/p>\n

Fuller said Coyle was invited to give a speech about B.C. Silver Alert next week. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was still working on it, he was kind of relentless,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cHe obviously was someone who was deeply invested in helping people.”<\/p>\n

Coquitlam SAR is planning a celebration of life for Coyle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A devoted partner and caring father who spent nearly three decades volunteering his time to rescue strangers has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-830632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}