World Lacrosse is saddened to share news of the passing of Cliff Pascas at the end of February. He was born June 28, 1955, in Vancouver and passed at 67.
Pascas loved the sport of lacrosse and spent the majority of his life giving back to it. He played an instrumental role in staging the 2008 and 2016 World Lacrosse Men’s U19 Championships as the organizing committee chair.
Both events were held in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, where Pascas lived, and were widely regarded as massively successful events by Lacrosse Canada and World Lacrosse. The outstanding 2008 event was one of the reasons Pascas led the bid committee for the 2016 event.
After the 2016 championship, current European Lacrosse Federation president and longtime World Lacrosse board member Ron Balls delivered these sentiments to Pascas in his closing remarks:
“As you know, I have told many people over the past eight years that Coquitlam 2008 was one of the best organized events in the history of the lacrosse world championships … this one was even better than the previous time that you had hosted. With a small board of directors, you have staged a championship that you should all be proud of.”
Pascas was a recipient of the 2008 Tom Gordon Plaque award from BC Lacrosse for having done the most for lacrosse in that year.
He graduated from John Oliver High School in 1973 and then earned a degree from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He worked at Status Electrical Corporation in British Columbia for his entire career, which spanned almost 30 years. He was a foreman for six years and then a project manager.
In his limited spare time, he loved to work on his Datsun 510 along with his son Aaron and grandson Garrison. They frequented car shows all over the lower mainland when they weren’t working on it.
Pascas is survived by his mom, Helen Pascas; his wife, Linnea, and their three kids, Adam, Graham and Aaron; and his grandkids, Garrison, Emma, Levi and Ava.
