Rolf Blakstad Hougen

We are saddened to announce the passing of our father, Rolf Hougen, on September 5th, 2024. He died peacefully in his Whitehorse home, surrounded by family.

Rolf was a loving husband to his wife Margaret (who passed away in 2022) for almost 70 years, and proud and supportive father to Craig (Mary-Jane), Kelly (Heather), Karen (Jim), Erik (Kim), Greta (Bob), and Maureen (Rick). He was the best ‘Poppa’ to his eighteen grandchildren who could not have grown up with a better role model, and great grandfather to his ten great-grandchildren in the ever-expanding fifth generation of Hougen Yukoners.

He will be dearly missed by his family, his friends and anyone fortunate enough to have known him.

Our hearts are broken, but his legacy will live on…in his family…and in the Yukon.

Special thanks to Dr. Kmet, Dr. Rockenstein, Dr. Biss and Terri from HomeCare and others for their compassionate medical care in dad’s last days. We would also like to give a special thanks to Marilou & Sharlene, Dad’s wonderful caregivers for both he and Mom in their final years.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Yukon Foundation’s “Hougen Family Fund” which provides Yukoners with funding related to the study, preservation and enhancement of historical and cultural activities. Go to: www.yukonfoundation.com and click ‘donate today, donate to a fund, search ‘Hougen Family Fund’.

There will be a “CELEBRATION of LIFE” at the MacBride Museum on Sunday September 22nd, 2024 from 2:00pm – 5:00pm. All are welcome. Formalities at 3:00pm.

ROLF HOUGEN

Rolf Blakstad Hougen was born in Tatalrose (near Burns Lake), B.C. in 1928, the seventh child of Norwegian immigrants, Berent and Margrethe Hougen. Growing up on the family farm, young Rolf learned the values of hard work, self-reliance, and resourcefulness.

Rolf’s father first came to the Yukon in the early 1900’s during the latter part of the Gold Rush. He returned to Whitehorse in 1944 with his wife and youngest son, Rolf, to take over brother Odin’s small Raleigh business. During this time, Rolf acquired his lifelong passion for business and photography and took over management of the family business at age 18. With hard work and business acumen, Rolf created the largest, full-line department store in the Yukon, offering everything from sporting goods to clothing to photo finishing.

In 1953, Rolf met his future wife, Margaret Van Dyke, at a ball celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. They wed in 1955, and over the next decades, they shared a love of travel, a deep commitment to family, and a drive to advance the Yukon while honouring its history and heritage.

Community and Business Builder

Rolf always understood that an important part of being a successful entrepreneur and community leader was to give back to your community and make it a better place to live and raise families. He was founding Chairman and member of both the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, which is still around more than 60 years later, and the Yukon Foundation, which helps Yukoners achieve their potential through scholarships for students and grants for projects. Additionally, many will remember that every December for years, Hougen’s Department Store hosted the ‘Santa Train’, which allowed up to 1000 young fans to travel with Santa.

Among numerous other community initiatives, Rolf rallied volunteer efforts to save two beached sternwheelers, the Whitehorse and the Casca, that unfortunately later burned to the ground in 1974. In the mid-1980’s, Rolf was instrumental in saving the White Pass & Yukon Route railway by putting together a group to make a compelling business case for keeping the trains going as a tourist operation rather than being dismantled and sold for scrap. As a result, every year hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world experience the glorious scenery while riding this historic train out of Skagway.

Rolf spent his life responding to needs in the community, which led him to his various business enterprises. From TV, radio, satellite and retail to car dealerships and real estate, where Rolf saw a need, he found a solution. At one time, The Hougen Group of Companies was one of the largest private employers in the Yukon.

Innovator

Living in one of the more remote corners of the country, Rolf Hougen was always concerned with strengthening the Yukon’s links to the rest of Canada and the world. Rolf helped bring cable television to Whitehorse with the creation of WHTV in 1958 and in 1969 founded the Yukon’s first commercial radio station, CKRW (‘the Rush’). Rolf was also the founder and visionary behind Canadian Satellite Communications (Cancom), leading to the launch in 1982 of the world’s first commercial satellite to deliver “scrambled” programming. At the time it was described as contributing to “the process of nation building by linking different parts of the country.” For his contribution, he was appointed as an “Officer of the Order of Canada” in 1987.

Building International Ties

As well as being a proud Yukoner and Canadian, Rolf Hougen was very much a citizen of the world. He traveled much of the globe during his extensive personal travels, as a director of multi-national boards, and representing Canada through his work as Chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

In 1965, he helped organize a tour to Japan, Hong Kong and China where they became the first group to enter mainland China via Hong Kong since 1949. Rolf continued to promote these ties when he became the Yukon delegate to the Asia Pacific Foundation.

After many years of service with the Whitehorse Board of Trade—later the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce—Rolf was invited to join the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He became Chair in 1989, the first small businessman and northerner to occupy this prestigious position. Over the following year, he led business delegations abroad to Taiwan and India and spoke on behalf of the Chamber in Bangkok and

Hong Kong. Rolf was part of a delegation accompanying then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on a visit to Moscow. At his term’s end, the Chamber recognized Rolf’s contribution as follows: “As both a witness and a contributor to history in the making, Rolf Hougen’s record of achievement as Chairman has laid a solid foundation for the Chamber’s future. His year at the helm is certain to pay substantial dividends in the years to come.”

In 1976-77, Rolf took his family to live in France for a year and subsequently served as Honorary French Consul for the Yukon for almost 20 years, for which he received the “Ordre National du Mérite”.

Philanthropist

Rolf Hougen had always been keenly interested in researching, documenting, and sharing Yukon history. A keen photographer since his teens, he has taken thousands of photographs that give a vivid picture of over half a century of Yukon life. He personally salvaged the glass plate negatives of E.J. Hamacher, an important early Whitehorse and Yukon photographer. Both collections have since been donated to Yukon Archives where they have proven invaluable to numerous researchers. During their first trip to Europe, Rolf was impressed by the many statues and monuments commemorating key historical and cultural figures. Starting in the 1990s, Rolf and Marg employed local sculptors to create bronze busts honouring iconic Yukon figures such as NWMP Superintendent Samuel Steele, poet Robert Service, authors Jack London and Pierre Berton, acclaimed First Nations Elders Angela Sidney and Edith Jose, artist Ted Harrison and politicians the Honourable Erik Nielsen and George Black & Martha Louise Black. Additionally, a bronze plaque was created in Dawson City for pioneering geologist George Mercer Dawson. Rolf has also been a great supporter of the MacBride Museum and the arts in the Yukon including supporting the Yukon Arts Society by donating the lower floor of the Hougen Centre for ‘Arts Underground’.

At an age when most people were long retired, Rolf Hougen continued to play an important part in his community. He served a four-year term as Chancellor of Yukon College. During that time, he supported the College’s efforts to attain university status as well as protection of the college endowment lands from encroaching developments. Among many other accolades, in 2019, Rolf was one of the first recipients of the Order of Yukon.

We will all miss Dad – his great optimism in life and belief in his community. He loved the Yukon, and it was a better place with him in it.