Born in 1941, passed away peacefully on August 22nd, with Francine Frisson, his wife of 25 years, by his side. He also leaves behind his sons Jaap (Charlotte) and Bryan (Melody), and grandchildren Kai and Liron. Jaap is survived by his brothers Tiem and Jan, and sisters Fenny and Janneke and their families and also by Synja, his son's mother. A life-long educator, Jaap dedicated himself to over 40 years of dynamic contributions to educational agendas as teacher, administrator, in governance at all levels of education: public school, college and university; as author, as consultant to educational publishers, to institutions and governments; as a contributor to forward-looking educational developments in traditional and distance/open education environments. Born in Genemuiden, Holland, Jaap travelled the world. His career and passions took him from Holland, to Surinam, to the US and then to Canada, from BC (serving as Dean of Education at Simon Fraser University) to Newfoundland (Vice-President Academic and Pro-Vice Chancellor at Memorial University of Newfoundland), back to BC (President, Open Learning Agency), and then to Gaborone Botswana, where he served as the UNESCO Chair in Open and Distance Learning, finally retiring to Nanaimo in 2007 amidst the nature and animals he loved. Special mention to our close friend Sarah, whose compassion, support, and kindness to Jaap and the family meant the world to us all during his struggle with dementia. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer Society of Canada or to the SPCA in Jaap's name. A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, September 25th, 2015; 6-8 pm at the Diamond Alumni Centre, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C. Condolences: JTcondolences@gmail.com.