Community pillar Paul Wentzell dies at 60
Sales manager with local radio stations, Stingray Music was active volunteer in New Brunswick capital with Fredericton Civic Pride, UCT Fredericton charity events
Paul Wentzell's friends recount he used to say, "There’s no such thing as a bad time for chocolate cake!”
In honour of the former sales manager at the local private radio stations now known as the Bounce, Pure and Move, his former co-workers in radio started off their day Tuesday with slices of chocolate cake.
"He would have loved it!” said close friend and longtime co-worker Mark Roberts.
Wentzell died Monday at the age of 60 after a brief illness.
He’s survived by his wife Anne; children Nicole, Mark and Alex; and three grandchildren.
Roberts, best known these days as half of the morning team on Bounce Radio 105.3’s Freddy Mac Show, said he and Wentzel became fast friends when they met on the job in private radio decades ago.
“It’s a terrible loss of a great family man and great friend,” he told the Fredericton Independent on Tuesday.
“I met him on my first day at the radio stations in June of 1985. We were great friends ever since.”
Wentzell was well-known in the greater Fredericton area thanks to his work at the Bell Media radio stations and then with his more recent shift to Stingray, Roberts said, and for his community involvement.
But when thinking of his friend so soon after his death, Roberts’ first comments turned to him as a family man.
“He and his wife Anne and his children Nicole, Mark and Alex were extremely close,” he said. “And he was extremely proud to be grandfather to Nicole’s two children.”
Jean Lyons-McKim, another close friend, said Wentzell was surrounded by those closest to him before he passed Monday evening.
“I visited him at the hospital last evening shortly before he passed,” she said Tuesday.
”His kids and sibling were there, so his wife invited his close friends in as well.”
After his family, his passions in life were golf and football, Lyons-McKim said, and his dedication to volunteer work.
She described him as “a loveable goof.”
Roberts noted Wentzell’s sense of humour served him well, personally and professionally.
“His self-deprecating manner won admiration from his colleagues and clients alike,” he said.
The morning radio show host said he and Wentzell shared a love of sports as well and enjoyed them together.
“I played ball and curled with Paul for many years. We also went on numerous sports trips together,” Roberts said, though he joked that his friend’s enthusiasm for the games more than compensated for any shortfall in terms of skill.
“If not an all-star, Paul was an integral part of all of those teams, helping to foster camaraderie on all of them.”
Giving back to community
Wentzell’s love for Fredericton was something everyone in the community would have seen and felt - whether they knew it or not.
“He was also a driving force behind the Fredericton Civic Pride Committee, which put on the city’s Canada Day activities every year,” Roberts said.
Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers said Tuesday he was a vital part of the capital community, be it through his work in radio or volunteer work.
“Paul Wentzell was a pillar in our community. He became an advocate for small businesses through his work with the radio stations and he always knew how to throw a good party as demonstrated through his organizing of the annual Canada Day celebrations,” she wrote in an email Tuesday.
“Paul contributed so much to Fredericton and he will be sadly missed. My deepest condolences to Paul’s family, friends and colleagues.”
Wentzell was also the longtime president of UCT Fredericton, a local service club that was active in charitable efforts.
In recent years, UCT Fredericton became perhaps best known for its charity poker tournaments.
New Maryland resident Tina Brasseur, who helped out with the poker tournaments with expertise and promotion, said Tuesday said the UCT charity events are very much a part of Wentzell’s legacy.
“Paul was instrumental in creating one of the largest fundraising poker tournaments in the Maritimes, UCT’s annual January poker tournament, raising ten of thousands of dollars for various organizations in our community,” she said.
“With the event around the corner this year’s tournament will be a little more special for us.”
Through those charity tournaments, Wentzell became a cornerstone of the New Brunswick poker community, attracting players from other cities to come and play in the Fredericton charity events, and promoting others around the province.
UCT Fredericton secretary/treasurer Terry MacDonald said Tuesday that the club’s poker events did more than just raise money for worthy causes.
The organization’s push to hold those events helped pave the way for them to be done so legally through provincial legislation, he said, and Wentzell was an integral part of the movement to make it happen.
“We helped write the rules for charity poker tournaments,” MacDonald said.
Wentzell served as president of UCT Fredericton five times and was serving in that role when he died this week, he said.
Paul joined the service club in 1992 and received its highest honour - the Orwell Ford Memorial Award - twice over his three decades with the organization, MacDonald said.
UCT Fredericton representative Peter Arseneault announced Wentzell’s passing in the Fredericton Poker Games group on Facebook on Tuesday, with a recent photo of him presenting one of the many donation cheques the service club gave to numerous community organizations over the years.
“Paul was the driving force behind the UCT Fredericton poker tournaments. He will be sorely missed,” Arseneault wrote.
When contacted by the Fredericton Independent on Tuesday afternoon, Arseneault confirmed the decision had just been made to rebrand the annual January charity poker tournament as “The Paul Wentzell UCT Poker Tournament.”
It will be named as such as of the next instalment, set for Jan. 27, he said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Wentzell had two grandchildren when in fact there are three. We regret the error.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.