Realtor Kashif Sheikh, 46, of Delta drowns while trying to rescue his daughter from Kelowna creek

Kashif Sheikh Photo: Facebook

KASHIF Sheikh, 46, of Delta had posed with his children at the Mill Creek waterfall at Old Vernon and Spencer roads in Kelowna last Sunday for a photograph, shortly before his 13-year-old daughter slipped in and he jumped after her to rescue her.

RCMP told the media that they had learned that the daughter was able to get to shore, but the realtor couldn’t make it.

Kashif Sheikh with his children. Photo: GoFundMe Page

Bystanders, who pulled the man from the water, tried CPR on him and paramedics who rushed there, took over from them. However, they couldn’t resuscitate him.

Sheikh was a realtor with Nationwide Realty Corp. in Surrey. According to his Facebook, he studied at UBC Sauder School of Business and was from Lahore in Pakistan.

Ray Arneja of Nationwide Realty Corp. told The VOICE that Sheikh was also working at Vancouver International Airport. He joined their brokerage in January.

Arneja said: “The whole purpose of joining our brokerage was as he said, ‘I want to spend more time with my family. Eventually I want to quit my job.’ He said, ‘I want to do real estate on my own schedule.’”

He was with Team 3000 Realty in Vancouver, but he moved to Nationwide Realty Corp. because they do a lot of commercial real estate. He felt that he would be in a position to quit his job at the airport if he did commercial real estate as well.

Arneja said: “We put him on a mentorship program and he was supposed to finish that in August after which he would have been a full-time realtor.”

Sheikh (seen at the far right in a blue shirt) at a training session.

Arneja said Sheikh was always smiling and relaxed. “You would never see a frown on his face,” he added. He was very helpful and made friends easily with all the realtors. He would share all his knowledge with them and even go door knocking with them.

One of Sheikh’s friends, Harjit Sandhu, posted the following on his Facebook: “Kashif was a great teammate, full of fun and enjoyment, one of the best captain Cosmos Cricket club ever had (2009/2010).”

A GoFundMe page “To Support Kashif’s Family” has been set up and had collected $106,114 of its $200,000 goal by Thursday evening.

A second GoFundMe page “Kashif Sheikh’s Family Fund: Loving Father of 4’ had raised $25,629 of its $50,000 goal by Thursday evening.