Ivan Eugene (Van) Thomsen died June 16, 2017.

He was born May 2, 1930, in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Berdines and Ellice Thomsen and lived his first 30 years in Canada, where he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He and his first wife Rita Zaren had two children, Debbe and Jo-Lynn, who now live on Vancouver Island. He moved in 1965 to Portland, where he met Janet (Jan) Duvall at a Halloween dance. They were married in 1968 and together raised children Jennifer, Bobby and Tracy in and around Enumclaw.

He had a successful career in the compressed gas industry with Air Liquide before turning to entrepreneurship. He launched Pacific Shipping Systems, a brokerage for transport trailers, intermodal containers and highway chassis, but also experimented with, invented and patented an innovative carbon dioxide refrigeration system for the transportation industry. He is remembered as a visionary, an “ideas guy” and a builder of things who found joy in life and was the first to celebrate the achievements of others.