Nathan Deslippe was an ambitious entrepreneur with a thriving career and promising future.

William Joles was looking for work and a place to crash after returning to London after an unsuccessful stint out West.

The two men, both 27, had known each other for years, bonding over a shared passion for leadership and life coaching.

Joles sometimes showed up for dinner at the Deslippe family home, where he earned a reputation for having a huge appetite, while Deslippe had some of his friend’s furniture in his downtown apartment.

Deslippe’s parents weren’t surprised when their son opened his home to Joles and tried to get him a job with the technology company he worked for.

But the friendship took a tragic turn when Deslippe was found dead inside his downtown London apartment over the weekend and Joles was charged with killing his roommate.

“He refused to give up on his friend,” Deslippe’s mother, Mona Lam-Deslippe, said Monday.

“He had so many friends because he cared for so many people. It was unfortunately this caring that caused this situation.”

The homicide — London’s third of the year — left Deslippe’s family, friends and colleagues in shock.

“We’re just not able to make any sense of it,” said Deslippe’s father, Tim Deslippe. “It just seems like such a senseless death.”

Police found Deslippe’s body in his 18th-floor unit after receiving a 911 call to 323 Colborne St. Sunday around 10 a.m. Joles was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder Monday.

Lawrence Field, a friend of both men, said Joles called him Sunday morning, asking him to come to Deslippe’s apartment.

Field said he arrived around 6:30 a.m. to find Joles and a woman in the lobby. The three started to go upstairs, but when the elevator didn’t work Field opted to go home rather than climb the 18 flights.

As he was leaving, Field said Joles, who smelled like alcohol, embraced him.

“He was like, ‘This is the last hug you’re going to get,” said Field, whose boss called him a few hours later, saying police had showed up looking for him.

Field said he met with investigators and turned over his phone.

Joles is also charged with forcible confinement, assault and uttering threats. The charges stem from a related event at the same location, London police said.

A woman who lives in the unit directly below Deslippe’s said she didn’t hear anything strange Saturday and Sunday morning, but saw men hanging out and drinking on the balcony sometime during the night.

Police hadn’t revealed how Deslippe died and were awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Friend Amir Farahi said he last talked to Deslippe shortly before midnight Saturday.

“He was just telling me he’s chilling,” said Farahi. “It seemed like he was just settling down, relaxing.”

Friends remember Deslippe as a community-builder who was close to his father, a principal with the London District Catholic school board, and his mother, the founder of MLD Solutions Inc., a technology and consulting company, and a prominent member of London’s technology community.

“Her son was a heck of a lot like her,” technology analyst Carmi Levy said of Deslippe. “He was a good soul.

“Things like this don’t happen to people like him.”

A graduate of Catholic Central high school, Deslippe worked as an account manager at Voices.com, a London technology company, where his co-workers covered his desk with flowers and messages scrawled on Post-it notes Monday.

“He was dearly loved . . . Every time you go by his desk, there’s more things piled on his desk. It’s sad,” said company spokesperson Trisha Beausaert, who confirmed Joles had interviewed with the company.

Moving back to London nearly two months ago, Joles was staying with Deslippe but had found his own place for October, said Deslippe’s family.

Joles, who attended Central secondary school, studied police foundations at Fanshawe College before enrolling in criminology at King’s University College for two years. He worked as a security guard for private companies and at a London bar before going to Western Canada.

Visitation for Deslippe is Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Forest Lawn Funeral Home and Cemetery.

The funeral is 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Peter’s Basilica in London

— With files by Free Press reporter Jennifer O’Brien

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

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Nathan Deslippe of London is remembered as an ambitious young man who hoped to open a business combining yoga and craft beer

Dreamer found dead “was going to go far”

A dreamer who made things happen.

That was Nathan Deslippe, say those who knew him.

Besides working for a London tech company, teaching yoga, running two of his own start-ups and volunteering in the community, Deslippe was toiling away at his most ambitious project yet.

The 27-year-old, found dead Sunday in the downtown London highrise where he lived, had planned to open a wellness centre that offered a yoga classes, life coaching and served craft beer.

He was busy developing a business plan with his mother, Mona Lam-Deslippe, and even had yoga instructors lined up.

“He was a big vision guy,” said Arthur Gonzales, a friend since high school. “We need to have more people like Nathan.”

Networking came easy to Deslippe, whom friends say was at ease mingling with young professionals as he was with politicians and business leaders.

“He lit up the room, that’s why he was good at networking,” said friend Rob Anderson, who had planned to work out with Deslippe at the gym on Monday.

“He offered so much to London. He was proud of this city,”

News of Deslippe’s death prompted a massive show of support on social media Monday.

A sharp dresser with a taste for bow ties, Deslippe devoured self-help books by gurus like Tony Robbins. His social media feed was peppered with inspiration quotes.

But Deslippe’s top passion was yoga.

“He literally tried to get everyone into yoga,” said friend Amir Farahi.

Deslippe had recently started teaching a Thursday night yoga class at Anderson Craft Ales, where participants gathered for drinks in the brewery’s bar after their sessions.

“He wanted to test it there and prove the concept,” Anderson said of his friend’s idea to pair yoga and suds.

Lam-Deslippe, an accomplished London businesswoman, had complete confidence in her son’s concept of building a culture around nurturing the body and mind.

“It was a very well-rounded holistic approach,” she said. “That’s why I believe that he could have made it work by building that culture.”

Deslippe was even ambitious when it came to pet ownership. He created social media accounts for his beloved Gyzmo, a chihuahua- pomeranian mix, in the hopes the dog would become the next online star.

The word friends and family used most to describe Deslippe? Inspiring.

“He always tried to motivate people to do their best,” said father Tim Deslippe.

“He was going to go far.”

Dale Carruthers, Free Press Reporter