One of the instrumental figures on the Yukon sports scene passed away on Wednesday after a battle with cancer.

Peter Milner was the project manager for Whitehorse's 2007 Canada Winter Games, and the former director of sport and recreation for the Yukon government.

'He was very special,' said friend and co-worker Vern Haggard, who met Milner shortly after he moved to the Yukon about 20 years ago. 'I moved into the sport business about 1990 and at the time, he was the director of the branch and I became executive director. So he provided just a ton of guidance.

'No individual has had a greater personal impact on where we are, the policies that are in place, and where we're going in the future.'

Fellow co-worker Karen Thompson, who was also a close friend of Milner's, called him her 'bosom buddy.

'I always wanted to work for Peter,' she said. 'I worked with a variety of sport and rec places in the city, but my goal was to come and work in the branch, with Peter. He had such a big impact on people and on me. He was my mentor.

'He went about everything with such energy and passion. You never really worked for Peter, you were always working with him. He always approached things very much from a team, family sense.'

Milner was heavily involved in Whitehorse's bid for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. In fact, he had been trying to get the Games to come north since 1991, working through three different Yukon government community services ministers and various Games officials in an effort to finally make it happen.

'If he had an insight on something he thought would be beneficial for the youth and the people of the Yukon, there was no barrier for him,' said Thompson. 'He brought people on side. Not everybody agreed with the way he did things, but it was always very positive.

'He understood the system and he understood that things took time and persuasion.'

Thompson said from the moment Milner became ill, he was adamant he did not want to miss the 2007 Games, an event he had spent so many years trying to get.

'I'm really sad that Peter is going to miss the Games, because boy, he was so passionate about these Games coming to the Yukon, and the fact they were going to be in the territory ... this is an opportunity he saw for all the kids in the Yukon to experience the Canada Games.'

When the Canada Senior Games were in Whitehorse last September, Milner joined in on the Team Yukon pep rally before the events got underway, greeting all of the visitors with a song on his banjo as they entered the F.H. Collins gymnasium.

'It wasn't planned, it was just something spontaneous that Peter did,' recalled Thompson. 'He just had a big smile on his face and it was probably the most memorable thing for people that came to the pep rally.'

Milner was also heavily involved in the organization of the annual Marsh Lake Classic ski loppet, one of the most popular cross-country skiing events in the territory. He was the loppet's chief of race for nine of the past ten years.

'He was such a good organizer and he was just so happy all the time,' said Pat Healy, a good friend of Milner's who has also been involved in the race for years. 'The loppet committee is one of the few I've ever been on that everybody is always happy.

'He always looked for the best in everything. He never had an unkind word to say, he just kind of brought everybody up. I'm really going to miss him, both as a personal friend and as an organizer of the loppet.'

This year's Marsh Lake loppet will be held on Saturday, and Healy confirmed it will be dedicated to Milner. There will be a dedication speech prior to the mass start of the 10 and 20 kilometre races and there is also a few lines printed on the newsletter which participants are given when they register.

'Certainly, we will all be thinking of him for sure,' stated Healy, adding that even though Milner no longer lived at Marsh Lake, he was still helping out with the race until the last minute and really wanted to be there on Saturday.

Healy said they had even talked about taking him to the start on a snowmobile to watch the race.

While Milner played a huge role in organizing sporting events in the Yukon, he was also an athlete. In his younger days, he was a high-calibre rower, winning a bronze medal for Quebec at the 1969 Canada Summer Games.

And in the Yukon, he hit the pavement in the annual Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay as part of the Soggy Bottom Boys team.

Haggard recalled the first time Milner got him to sign up for the relay. He hadn't been active very competitively in years, but Milner asked him to join the Soggy Bottom Boys, so Haggard thought he would train hard and push through a short leg.

'Then he just casually told me, Oh, by the way, we're a four member team,'' laughed Haggard. 'So we had to do two legs each.'

Milner was also active on the arts scene, as part of the bluegrass band Disturbing the Peace. Haggard said he and his wife made a habit of attending every event Milner's band played at, to see him and other people like him enjoy playing so much and to see the results of so much time and work.

Thompson said Milner's start with the banjo came about rather unexpectedly.

'He headed down to the U.S. and his purpose was to look at master's programs in recreation administration. He came back with a little brochure on banjo programs and banjo camps,' she laughed.

While Milner will be sorely missed in many areas throughout the Yukon, he will still always be around in spirit.

'He's here in everything we do, every day,' said Thompson.