My brother, Jim Byberg, passed away peacefully in the home where we grew up, with our family around him. In the days preceding his passing, many of his oldest friends and family visited, phoned or met up with him via zoom. It was a busy few days for him. Despite his suffering, he wanted to say his goodbyes.   

James Kaj Byberg, third son of Kaj and Mary Byberg, was born in Ontario in 1941. The family (Mary, Kaj, Bob, Ed and Jim) moved to Vancouver in 1944.  Jim was a BC boy - he loved the outdoors: camping, hunting, prospecting, fishing.  As a kid living in Marpole, he loved to play with his friends amongst the log booms on the Fraser and visit a particular dairy farm on Lulu island where the farmer dished them chocolate milk. After graduation (from Churchill Secondary in 1959) and a year travelling in Europe with his buddies, he started working at the Stevenson cannery, and then moved on to tugboats and, finally, fishing vessels—as cook and as fisherman.

He was independent and life on the ocean suited him well.  After the herring fishery collapsed on the west coast in 1967, he travelled around to the east coast of Canada with the vessel and crew of the Calm Sea. They fished herring off Newfoundland. During the vessel’s return to the west coast, the Calm Sea was caught in a hurricane off the coast of Bermuda. Jim and his crew-mates were rescued by the US Coast Guard and taken to Bermuda; sadly the captain died during the rescue and the vessel was lost in the storm.  Afterwards, Jim fished tuna off the coast of Peru and California, and finally ended up fishing for several years along the West Coast of BC, some of those years on draggers, some on trollers, and some on gillnet/bowpickers.   Friends and family all benefitted. Our freezer was always stocked with sockeye, halibut, and smoked salmon—an art which he mastered, along with cooking in general. Jim retired from fishing in 1998 and spent his remaining working years with boatbuilders.

Jim loved golf, hitting balls, golf trips, and sport fishing with his buddies. For several years in his retirement, he spent parts of his winters in Mexico, especially Cabo San Lucas. He also explored a lot of BC and the Yukon.  When at home, he loved walking the Fraser River dikes and jetties, watching the flocks of birds, having his daily MAC senior's coffee.

He is survived by his sister Anne-Marie and her husband Peter Fenger, by his nieces Tove, Maija, Charlotte and Julie, and his nephews Vernon and Eric and their families, step daughters Sarah and DeeAnn and their mother Judy. Jim very much enjoyed the company of his grand nephews Emil and Anton, who were always close by and thus a never ending source of amusement and delight.   

Jim will be greatly missed by his family and friends. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a charity of your choice.