Rotary Swimathon Founder Carl Oake Passes Away Ahead of 39th Annual Fundraiser Launch
/Ahead of the Rotary Club of Peterborough’s 39th Rotary Swimathon launch scheduled for Feb. 28 at the YMCA of Central East Ontario, founder Carl Oake has passed away at 79 years old on Thursday, announced at the Baker Tilly KDN on Monday morning.
(From Left to Right) Renee Oake, Tana Oake, Vanessa Oake Hogan and Lesley Oake share a moment of love as their father and/or husband, Carl Oake, had passed away last week at 79 years.. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Also known as the Carl Oake Rotary Swim, the fundraising event supports Easter Seals and Rotary projects, raising over $1.4 million since its inception. A goal of $50,000 has been set for fundraising efforts towards Rotary projects which is being collected until March 28.
The event encourages groups, organizations and individuals to swim at the lanes at the YMCA to raise funds. Introduced last year are the ‘Cannonball’ and ‘Floating Catwalk’ Challenge. They were added to allow those who cannot swim or provide an alternate activity to raise money for teams or individuals.
His daughter and event organizer, Vanessa Oake Hogan says that this event will always continue the legacy left by her father.
“We never had any intention of stopping and especially now, we always knew it was important to the community,” she explained.
Over the weekend, several notable Peterborough figures, organizations and friends and family of the Oakes expressed their condolences of Carl’s passing on social media. The outreach was reassuring for the Oake family knowing Carl’s impact on the community.
“But the last couple of days, the outreach has been incredible and I know that's what people know him for primarily,” said Vanessa. “It really helps in dealing with this loss to know that he touched so many lives and was recognized and appreciated for that. It helps us cope with this difficult loss.”
Carl Oake and his daughter Renee after the latter finishes up swimming her lanes in 2022. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
