Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 20/06) - Yellowknife owes Sam Yurkiw a retirement party. And the former long-time Gold Range Hotel owner is going to get one this weekend.

Sam Yurkiw: A shrewd businessman who favoured handshakes to lawyers.

Staff at the Gold Range are hosting Sam's Day as a belated tribute on Sunday, Jan. 22.

One Saturday morning a little more than two years ago, Sam Yurkiw broke a routine he held for almost three decades.

After getting up at 5 a.m. and going over the cash at his Gold Range bar, the businessman usually took lunch and had a nap before perching on his executive barstool with his big flashlight for the night shift. But on this day, he didn't feel well.

A couple of days later, his family brought him to the hospital.

Sam lives with Alzheimer's - a disease that gradually causes the victim to lose memory, especially to identify close family and friends - in the extended care facility at Stanton Territorial Hospital. His friends and family joined him for cake this week to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Musicians past and present share the stage

George Tuccaro will emcee the Sunday event as musicians past and present share the stage, and some memories, starting at 2 p.m.

"He gave his life to that bar," said long time friend and Gold Range general manager Nadene McMenemy. "He felt very comfortable in there."

Many staff who worked with Sam remember him as a tough but fair boss who wouldn't hesitate to lend $1,000 to a longtime employee, or purchase a plane ticket so a staff member could visit sick family in the south.

Sam's business career in Yellowknife started in the early 1970s when he purchased a 50th Street bakery. At times he owned businesses such as Yk Pizza, Sam's Monkey Tree Pub, The Cave, The Gallery, a video store, arcade, gas bar and several other restaurants, to list a few.

He bought his beloved Gold Range in 1977. His son Richard Yurkiw and his daughter-in-law Angie Fardella took ownership four years ago.

Many people who did business with him remember him as a hardnosed and shrewd negotiator:

"I knew Sam since he first took over the Gold Range. He had a wickedly sly sense of humour, but he was always a gentleman. Anybody who came to town, of course, had always heard about the Strange Range and wanted to go. And Sam was quite obliging most of the time. He's an institution in this town and he's missed. He was a part of the Gold Range and the community. Even when I was mayor I used to go in there because the Gold Range is the Gold Range. It's one place where everybody from everywhere rubbed elbows. He probably met as many people as any politician in town had. And he was always the same old Sam. He is a part of Yellowknife history." - former Yellowknife mayor Pat MacMahon.

"I've learned a lot from him. But he wasn't easy to work for. He was a hardcore businessman. Sam was a small people person. He didn't deal well with white collar people like bankers or lawyers. He was from the old school. A handshake, that was how he operated. His life was his work." - Harvey Bourgeois worked as a labourer, bartender and business manager overseeing The Gallery, Yk Pizza and other of Sam's businesses for a decade. He purchased Sam's Monkey Tree Pub from Sam in 1996.

"A lot of people were kind of scared to talk to Sam. But, Sam always treated us girls good. He always looked after our welfare and he always made sure the guys we went out with were the good guys and not the bad guys. He was like a father figure to us." - Mary Martin has worked at the Gold Range since 1978

"He was like a dad to me. He was a caring man and to see him with Alzheimer's now is really hard. It's hard to even talk about it. He helped out a lot of people in Yellowknife when they were down. He was a kind man." - Maureen Mercredi worked at the Gold Range for 25 years.