Remembering the life and innovations of Coquitlam SAR volunteer Mike Coyle

He was a husband, a father, software engineer, writer, innovator, and for approximately 27 years he helped lost hikers and injured mountain bikers get home safely as part of Coquitlam Search and Rescue.

Michael Coyle died on Saturday after being found unresponsive while mountain biking in Squamish, according to a post from Coyle’s partner Sylvia Fuller.

Fuller thanked the other mountain bikers and Squamish EMS for trying to save Coyle’s life.

“Thank you to Squamish Search and Rescue for carrying him out and taking care of our dog,” she wrote on social media. “We are shattered.”

Having worked with Coyle for approximately 27 years, Coquitlam SAR president Nick Zupan described Coyle as selfless, hardworking, and a “solid dude.”

“The way to describe Mike would be: solid, dependable, knowledgeable, able, competent,” he said. “He’s a team guy.”

As a backcountry skier, climber, and mountain biker, Coyle had qualities that made him a natural fit for search and rescue. But it was that “love of the team” that kept him at it for decades.

A software engineer by trade, Coyle wrote that his avocation is search and rescue, joining his first SAR team in 2000.

“At the time I was frustrated with volunteering for various organizations and needed a simple way to feel useful, and to give back to society. SAR was that opportunity,” he wrote on his blog.

Certified in longline helicopter rescue, Coyle and Zupan worked with North Shore Rescue to bring a helicopter team to Coquitlam.

Coyle was emphatic that anyone in trouble deserved rescue, whether or not it was their own fault.

“When a person dies due to a preventable accident, we should feel sorrow for the victim and their family, while still attempting to uncover the cause of the accident so others don’t make the same mistake,” he wrote.

As news spread of Coyle’s death, search and rescue teams across the province offered their condolences and shared memories of Coyle.

Sam Noh, the co-founder of B.C. Silver Alert, credited Coyle with helping make the initiative a reality.

Following the disappearance of Noh’s father, he started working with Coyle to figure out a better way to find missing vulnerable adults, including people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

“From the very beginning, he poured his heart into the BC Silver Alert,” Noh wrote. “His dedication and determination were instrumental in bringing the BC Silver Alert to life and advocating for vulnerable missing adults and their families.”

Gord Thompson of Comox Valley Search and Rescue described Coyle as: “one of the most recognizable and trusted voices in search and rescue in British Columbia.”

Thompson described him as a generous volunteer and a talented teacher.

“He had a rare gift for teaching that made technical, high-stakes skills feel approachable, and he gave that gift freely to anyone willing to learn,” Thompson wrote.

When discussing wayward hikers with the media, Coyle used that same talent to convey the fundamental of being in the backcountry: make a plan, know your limits, and stay where searchers can find you.

“Countless British Columbians who never set foot on his team’s calls are safer today because of the lessons Mike shared, patiently and repeatedly, whenever a reporter’s microphone was in front of him,” Thompson wrote.

Kamloops Search and Rescue also offered their condolences, thanking Coyle for helping the team with drone operations that have since become: “an invaluable tool in search and rescue.”

“His passion for innovation, his generosity in sharing knowledge, and his collaborative spirit helped many teams, including ours, grow and better serve those in need,” the post from Kamloops SAR stated.

During the last few years, Coyle had to scale back on his day-to-day contributions in Coquitlam, Zupan said, noting that Coyle handled the website and IT problems, as well as managerial and organizational roles with search teams.

“Mike still played instrumental roles on the team without being on the front lines,” Zupan said. “He’s leaving behind a legacy of public service, and people should know that.”

Writing on his blog, Coyle estimated he spent thousands of hours of his life training and hundreds of hours searching.

“And it has been one of the most rewarding pursuits I have ever undertaken,” he wrote.