A Winnipeg man is pleading with the Kelowna community to help him learn more about his dad.
Zack Kushnir recently took to social media in the hopes of finding former friends or past coworkers of his late father Nathan Paul Kushnir.
Nathan, after separating from Kushnir’s mom, moved to Victoria briefly before relocating to Kelowna in the early 1990s.
“I only got to see him once or twice a year growing up. I didn’t really get to know him very well,” said Kushnir.
Nathan died in a car crash on Highway 33 on March 2, 1998. A commercial truck is reported to have crossed the centre line and hit Nathan’s car head on. Kushnir believes a friend named David was in the car with his father at the time and survived the collision.
Kushnir contacted BC RCMP and BC Highway Patrol in hopes of finding more details on the crash or even the last name of David, but few details have transpired.
“I’ve been able to determine it was somewhere on Highway 33, maybe near Beaverdell,” he said.
However, he has also been able to find the coroner’s report.
Because Kushnir was so young when his father died, he isn’t sure what Nathan did for a career.
The coroner’s report that Kushnir received listed Nathan’s occupation as a trucker, but Kushnir thinks that may have been an error.
“I thought at one point either he or someone said that he was a sales rep for some sort of food company. When I look at his standard of living and where he lived and all that, it makes sense that he was more white collar.”
Kushnir remembers his dad living on the waterfront on Watt Road when he visited.
Kushnir knows his father married and he has a half-brother who is believed to still be living in Kelowna. The half-brother was born just after Nathan died. The brothers have never met.
Nathan’s widow remarried and is also believed to still be in Kelowna. Kushnir has had limited contact with her over the years.
“What I’m looking to do right now is connect with anyone that might have known him,” Kushnir said. He’s hoping to put together a profile of his father and learn more about his family’s past.
Anyone who remembers Nathan can contact Kushnir at zkushnir1588@hotmail.com.
READ MORE: RCMP ask for public’s help in locating missing Cawston man
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