Keyboard player Guy LeBlanc, a member of Camel and the founder of prog/jazz band Nathan Mahl, has succumbed to kidney cancer at the age of 54.

LeBlanc's passing was confirmed by the official Camel website, which posted an update reading, "It is with a hugely heavy heart that we announce the gentle passing of our friend and keyboard player, Guy LeBlanc, on 27th April at 4:05PM ET. We are unable to adequately express the sorrow we are experiencing at this time. Our hearts are with his family, Shirley, Natasha and Kayleigh LeBlanc."

Joining the band in 2000 as a replacement for departing keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel, LeBlanc toured with Camel and was featured on their 2002 release A Nod and a Wink. He was forced to take a leave of absence prior to the group's 2003 farewell tour, owing to his wife's worsening health, but was back in the lineup for their Retirement Sucks tour in 2013, and appeared on 2014's live DVD In From the Cold.

Sadly, Camel's renewed activity came as LeBlanc was battling the cancer that would ultimately claim his life, and he was forced to sit out the band's 2014 live dates. He did, however, manage to complete work on a new Nathan Mahl album, the 2014 release Justify.

According to LeBlanc's Facebook page, he passed "peacefully at home in Kemptville, as he wished, with his wife and daughters," leaving behind "a legacy of beautiful and inspiring music – music that tells a story and each story exposes a search within for the answers to life and art. The music lives on."

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