Born in Odder, Denmark in 1926, Vagn Andersen’s childhood was spent with his family in Venezuela before returning to Denmark just prior to the outbreak of World War II.  He had been studying to become a machinist and welder but soon found himself joining the Danish Underground Resistance when the Germans invaded Denmark in 1940.  As a resistance fighter, he was targeted by the Gestapo and was forced to flee.  His mother, father and other family members were arrested and tortured in an unsuccessful attempt to gather information about his whereabouts, allowing him to escape by boat to England where he elected to join the Scottish Paratroop Regiment.  Training with the Royal Scots was intense, designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline and self-reliance, which likely shaped Vagn’s future outlook on life. 

One of the best in his regiment, Vagn was deployed to Italy as part of Operation Slapstick and later to the island of Malta but his service was cut short when an infection sent him to Canterbury Hospital in England.  As luck would have it though, it was here that he met a nurse, Margaret Thurmann, who later became his wife.  They married in 1949 and had three children:  Oscar, Martin and Clifford, and in 1956, the entire family emigrated to Montreal.  After fits and starts, Vagn would eventually find work in Vancouver as a welder repairing commercial fishing boats, enduring terrible working conditions in smelly fish holds and engine rooms while Margaret became a nurse at Edith Cavell Hospital.  Ambitious and driven, Vaugn also worked as a transport truck welder until a hand injury spawned a new career as an insurance salesman.  Insurance work introduced him to many high-profile contacts in the Vancouver business community, and Vagn began to invest in new ventures, such as the oil and gas exploration company Giant Reef.  Not long afterwards, while drilling in Grizzly Valley of the Monkman Pass area of B.C., an oil well was discovered and this bonanza spurned Mr. Andersen to pivot again, forming many small mining exploration companies that operated in British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Quebec. He also branched out into diverse manufacturing ventures such as furniture and the Alzner orthotic foot-support.

Mr. Andersen’s arguably greatest investment, however, was in people.  Vagn believed that donating time to others in need – friends, family, loved ones – was one of the most important things a person could do.  While not overtly religious, he was a perennially generous contributor to the Billy Graham Crusades as well as the Sisters of Charity and eventually would receive personal notes of thanks from Billy Graham as well as Mother Teresa for the many contributions he had made throughout the years.