Yellowknife bar owner Sam Yurkiw dies at 83

Sam Yurkiw, a Yellowknife businessman and the owner ofthe famous Gold Range bar, died Thursday morning. He was 83.

Yurkiw ran the rough and ready Gold Range a popularYellowknife watering hole and country music venue among locals, and a must-see destination for N.W.T. tourists for 30 yearsbefore selling the bar several years ago, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

"He was tough, but he was kind and he was [a] pretty admirable person. He was a good boss," Nadine McMenemy, who worked at Yurkiw's bar for 18 years, told CBC News on Thursday.

McMenemy recalled the first time she met her boss, having just arrived from Iqaluit and looking for a job: "He said, 'Well, give me a number I'll probably need you next week, or I may even fire someone tonight,'" she said with a chuckle.

Patrons and staffat the Gold Range on Thursday described Yurkiw as a generous spirit housed in a hard exterior.

Some pointed to his popular perch at the bar, sitting on a stool in the corner and holding a flashlight on some nights.

"I remember Sam sitting on his seat there in the corner, and when the bar was packed he used to turn on the flashlight and let the bouncers know to let no one in," recalled Dominic Grossco.

McMenemy said Yurkiw's battle with Alzheimer's disease has raised her awareness of the disease. Starting in 2006, she helped organize Sam's Days, which raised money for Yellowknife's new dementia care centre.

"If some other good comes from having worked for him, it's just that it's put me onto that disease and trying to raise money for people that go through it," she said.

McMenemy, who currently works at the localLegion, said she will meet with Yurkiw's family to help plan a memorial service.