The UBC Thunderbirds family is mourning the loss of Marilyn Pomfret, one of the most impactful influences throughout the history of UBC varsity athletics, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening.

Pomfret was an icon whose vision, passion and determination has improved the professional and personal lives of so many she came in contact with. Her incredible legacy includes the Marilyn Pomfret Trophy which has been awarded to the outstanding female athlete of the year at the annual UBC Big Block awards since 1984.

The award-winning athlete, teacher, coach and Director of Women's Athletics spent 23 impressive years at UBC where she spearheaded great increases in sports programs, funding and intramurals for women.

Pomfret arrived at the University of British Columbia in 1951 as a volleyball and basketball athlete. She earned the Intramural Block award in her second year and was elected to the Physical Education Undergraduate Society executive for 1952-53 school year. As president of the Women's Athletic Directorate, she created and organized several women's sporting events. Also, while at UBC, she was a member on UBC's Women's Undergraduate Society council and in her last year, a member of the UBC students' council. Pomfret graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Physical Education.

She taught high school for nine years before returning to UBC in 1963 to teach, coach and serve as women's athletic director from 1963 to 1969 and again from 1972 to 1986.

As director, she successfully lobbied for better funding for women's athletics and presided over an era where the Thunderbirds dominated in track and field, basketball, swimming, diving, and field hockey. Her dedication to the principles of equality and co-operation led to improvements, both at UBC and later nationally, in the athletic opportunities available to university women athletes. It was during her directorship that additional women's participation sports were introduced on campus, including women's ice hockey, soccer and rowing. She was instrumental in establishing a more equal funding allocation between men's and women's sports at UBC.

It was during her regime that many of the coaches who would later bring Canadian championships to UBC were hired, such as Ron Thorsen and Norm Vickery in basketball, Gail Wilson in field hockey and Alena Branda in gymnastics. UBC women athletes and teams flourished in both performance and recognition during the 1970s including volleyball, gymnastics, track & field, basketball and field hockey, all strong programs due largely to Pomfret's leadership.

UBC athlete and Hall of Famer Sandra Hartley states, "I am now convinced that few of us will ever know the lobbying that Marilyn must have pursued on the other side of the Memorial Gym walls in order to create and preserve the kind of respect the women's programs deserved."

As coach of the Thunderbirds Women volleyball team for 11 years, Pomfret guided squads to two national title victories in 1972-73 and 1973-74

Pomfret established the Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union and served as its first president. She later helped amalgamate it with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union, now Canadian Interuniversity Sport. After retirement, Pomfret received the CIAU Austin-Matthews Award for outstanding contribution to the development of university sport in Canada and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award. In 1994 Pomfret was inducted in the UBC Sports Hall of Fame and followed that up a decade later with an induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

According to UBC Professor Emeritus Thelma Sharp Cook, "When the history of women's athletics at UBC is written, most of that document will be about the development and accomplishments of the program under the stewardship of Marilyn Pomfret."

Pomfret's influence was impactful and wide reaching, she was able to break down barriers that so many benefit from today. She will be dearly missed by countless people but her life will be celebrated and her legacy will carry on forever.