The sudden passing of local realtor and well-known hair stylist Furius Whelan has been described as a loss not just for the family and friends who adored him, but also the community as a whole.
Whelan, originally from Canada, passed away late last week in Las Vegas while attending a RE/MAX convention where he had won an award.
Kim Lund, local RE/MAX real estate broker, expressed sadness at Whelan’s passing.
“Furius was involved in the hairstylist business here for at least 20 years, maybe longer… but he was very well known here. He had a very outgoing personality, [a] friendly, genuinely good person. Everyone loved him because he was just a really nice person and worked very hard… [He] was just somebody that that you felt like you knew for years when you first met him because he was just very, very straightforward and very easy to get to know,” Lund told the Cayman Compass in a telephone interview on Monday.
Whelan’s death, he said, was “very tragic” and happened suddenly.
“He was doing really well in real estate. He was Caymanian now. He just had everything going in the right direction. So for him to die so suddenly like this… it is just a really good person that we’ve lost in the Cayman Islands that everyone loved and knew and will never, never be able to replace somebody like him,” Lund added.
Whelan’s friends have started a GoFundMe page for his daughter, with the aim to raise £25,000 to provide for her. As of Monday morning, £17,350 had been raised.
Lund said Whelan, who was in his mid-40s, and fellow colleagues were at the RE/MAX convention and were returning home when his friends noticed Whelan did not show up at the airport. They began calling around and returned to the hotel.
Lund said security went into Whelan’s room where he was found unresponsive; the cause of his death is not known at this time.
“It was very tragic,” Lund said, adding that Whelan was progressing in real estate and doing very well after having spent just over two decades in the hairstyling business.
“He won a great award for real estate. He was very happy. He was a shining star in terms of working hard and doing really well. He had everything everything going in the right direction for him,” Lund said.
The RE/MAX Cayman Islands team posted a message on its Facebook page mourning the loss of Whelan.
“The RE/MAX Cayman Islands family is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our own Furius Whelan. Furius was an incredible person who was deeply loved and admired. He had a positive impact on so many people and will be truly missed. Our sympathies go out to his wife, daughter, family and friends,” it stated.
Tributes have been pouring in on social media as well, marking the impact Whelan had on the community.
Lund said RE/MAX is also doing internal fundraising to bring Whelan back home to the Cayman Islands.
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