Sgt. Peter Thiessen, Richmond RCMP’s first full-time media spokesperson, passed away due to cancer on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Dale Carr, Thiessen’s fellow RCMP officer and friend, took to social media to announce the passing of Thiessen, who died in his Summerland home with his family at his bedside.
“It’s with profound sadness that I share the news of the passing of Sgt. Peter Thiessen (rtd),” said Carr in a Twitter post, adding the hashtags “cancer sucks” and “great friend.”
He is survived by his wife and four children.
Thiessen is described by fellow RCMP officers and journalists as “a great person”, “always so helpful to reporters” and a person who always treated others “with respect and fairness” in his role as a media relations officer.
The former Mountie was born and raised in Vancouver and had joined the RCMP in 1979.
Thiessen worked in Leduc, Alta., before returning to the Lower Mainland with the Port Mann Freeway Patrol and then the Langley detachment.
Later on, he moved to the Richmond RCMP and became the department’s first, full-time media relations officer and worked his way to become the senior media relations officer with the BC RCMP E Division.
Thiessen worked with the RCMP for 30 years in Metro Vancouver before retiring in 2014.
