VANCOUVER—Friends and family of the UBC professor killed during a string of northern B.C. homicides remember him as a loving husband, father and cherished teacher who relished being outdoors.

Len Dyck, 64, was named by police Wednesday as the unidentified man found dead Friday near a vehicle fire on B.C.’s Highway 37 near Dease Lake. A nationwide manhunt is underway for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, who have been charged with one count each of second-degree murder in the death of Dyck. The two are also suspected in the slaying of a pair of tourists in northern B.C.

Patrick Martone, a professor at UBC’s botany department, described Dyck as having a deep passion for nature and a sense of humour underneath a “somewhat gruff exterior.”

“Mostly, I will miss Len’s laugh, which often followed some wry comment,” said Martone in a statement. “It makes me tear up thinking that I won’t get to hear it again ... He was a really special man.”

Martone added that Dyck was beloved by his students for teaching them to uncover “hidden gems” in nature.

“His passion for learning about bizarre and beautiful organisms that few people ever get to see, inspired our students to feel that same passion and awe,” he said.

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Louis Druehl, 82, a retired professor from Simon Fraser University, first met Dyck more than 20 years ago when Dyck was a graduate student. As marine botanists, the two would sometimes cross paths at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island, although they did not work together on any research projects.

“He loved to be outside and go out on the beach,” said Druehl, who lives in Bamfield.

They both studied seaweed, and that meant collecting samples during low tide no matter the conditions — sometimes in the middle of the night or during the cold winter months.

“He seemed to relish being in the elements,” said Druehl, who described Dyck as quiet, sometimes shy and a hard worker.

In a statement, Dyck’s family said the sudden and tragic loss had left them heartbroken.

“He was a loving husband and father. His death has created unthinkable grief, and we are struggling to understand what has happened,” the statement read.

The University of British Columbia confirmed that Dyck began working as a sessional lecturer at the school in 2009.

“The UBC community is shocked and saddened by this news and we offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Dyck’s family, friends and his colleagues at the university,” said a statement from Sean Graham, head of botany at UBC.

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A photo distributed by the university taken on March 2017 shows Dyck on the beach, holding two types of brown seaweed on a class field trip to Clover Point Park in Victoria.

Dyck spent much of his life dedicated to the study of marine plant life at UBC, completing his Bachelor of Science in 1978, a master’s degree after that and, in 2003, a doctorate with the department of botany.

Many of those years were spent studying seaweed in Vancouver Island’s Barkley Sound and the surrounding area, which may have began when he attended a field course in 1977 as an undergraduate at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, located near the Sound.

Until his death, Dyck was listed as a research associate of the DeWreede lab, which is supported by the Bamfield Centre, and published research until April 2019.

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