Adrian Hartmann

Adrian Hartmann, a Swiss and Canadian citizen, was born in Zürich on April 4, 1943 to parents Nelly and Emil Hartmann.

In 1968 he married Hedy Gehri and in the same year he started his banking career in Zurich. In 1972 he joined USB and in 1978 was appointed to be the manager of their Canadian branch in Toronto. Hedy and Adrian moved to Vancouver in 1980 and to Grand Cayman in 1985. He co-founded the Vancouver-based Swiss Canadian Chamber of Commerce. In 1990 they returned to Vancouver where he went on to form an international asset management company Weber Hartmann Vrijhof & Partners Ltd. (WHVP).

Adrian was also a talented musician playing guitar, digital keyboard and piano and organ, often for social events. He formed a country & western guitar duo with Zürich friend Adrian Kaiser in 1967. Adrian had many public appearances in Vancouver. In 2013 he recorded a CD with 16 songs of mainly Elvis Presley numbers and played the sound tracks himself and composed a number of songs.

In October 2016 Adrian and Hedy retired and moved from West Vancouver to Kelowna. Hedy sadly died April 2, 2019 of ALS.

Christmas 2019 Adrian decided to take a cruise to Panama and struck up a conversation with another passenger in the Vancouver airport. Diane and Adrian had many shared interests and soon Adrian was making plans to move to Gibsons. In August 2021 Adrian married Diane Williams. Adrian welcomed becoming part of the Gibsons community and enjoyed travelling with Diane. Sadly, Adrian passed away May 3, 2026, from a rare-type of leukemia.

Adrian enjoyed swimming in his pool, looking at the garden and spending time with friends. He was generous to a fault, even tipping the Amazon driver! He loved to play his electronic piano for guests rather loudly. He was proud of his Swiss heritage and embraced being a Canadian.

Adrian is survived by his wife, Diane Hartmann and his siblings Martin Hartmann (and his wife Veronique Visser) of France and Eva Zoller Morf (and her husband Robi) of Switzerland and nephews Cedric Hartmann (and his wife Sandra, daughter Lia) and Yann Hartmann. Adrian is also survived by Diane’s children: Lindsay (Mark) Folk, Kerry (John) Williams and Blair (Carie) Porteous and her grandchildren: Tyler (Alana), Carter (Kelsey), Michael (Anika), Joshua (Lydia), Alex (Sheridan), Camille and Annika. Great grand-children: Sophia, Micah and William.

Our families wish to thank Dr. Nortje, Dr. Wadge, Dr. Morantz and Dr. Wendy Davis (Vancouver) for the compassionate care they gave to Adrian throughout his year-long struggle with leukemia. Also thanks to the wonderful staff of ACU, CCU (especially Nurse Kathryn) and 3rd floor staff at Sechelt Hospital. Donations in remembrance of Adrian can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society.

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