To all the members of this site,
It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of bankcollector (mark mills to many of you) this past Friday morning (Jan. 19th) after a 3.5 month fight.
I had the pleasure of knowing Mark for almost 20 years and talked to him nearly everyday. Through those years I've gotten to know mark quite well and was honored to call him friend.
This site was one of his passions and he tried to get new members whenever he could. I bet many of you started on this site because of mark. Mark got me involved with a challenge, "tell me how the point system works on the site" using my math and physics degree against me. But it worked (took me 3 days but i gave him the answer). He loved the site so much that he was still going onto it while he was in hospital.
I know mark has touched many people's lives over the years and there are sure to be many stories out there. I thought it might be nice to share some of those stories to honor marks memory.
I'll start with one that sticks out in my mind and that is mark loved the song candyman by Christina aguelera. He would always blare that on our trips out to the dundurn military base.
I look forward to hearing other stories. I thank all those who left footprints in mark's life. Rest assured that he is now watching us from his cloud in the sky.
Mike
This website has lost a long-serving dedicated tracker who offered a friendship to many.
It was HE who got me involved in this website when I received one of his STAMPED (yes, STAMPED😉) notes. After entering his hit, I read up on the website and decided to join. It was Mark who gave me my first stamp to use after I inquired as to where he got his stamp. Mark was always there to answer any & all questions concerning the website.
I continued to enter my maximum daily entries over & over (even bugging the crap out of Pooga as to when I would get promoted and receive a higher entry-level).
As I continued, I eventually got promoted and received continued entry-level limits. That pushed me harder to continue to climb the ladder. Eventually, I climbed as high as getting to #2 position, behind who else but Mark😊.
Mark continued to creep away from me more and more every day. Not knowing why, Mark eventually told me that with his position, his daily entry limit was higher than mine. So I continued my entries, and once again, pestered Pooga as to when I would get my final promotion and limit increase. Finally, that day came. Now I was further motivated!
Mark and I had a friendly banter going back and forth between us.
One day Mark decided that he needed a rest & was stepping away and challenged me to try and take his crown/throne. The gauntlet was thrown down! Now I was all I in!!
I worked long and hard and eventually made it to the top of the ladder, taking away his beloved crown/throne.! 😊 Mark even congratulated me in doing so!
I continued entering, pulling further and further ahead of him for as long as I could (I strongly believe that it was as long as HE would let me!😉)
Mark came back and we fought it out for a while until Mark was able to once again retake his #1 position, regaining his crown/throne.
I decided to move to Mexico & enjoy retirement. I continued entering notes with the notes I took down with me, but always followed the website, never losing interest.
3 1/2 years later, we decided to return to Canada. It was Mark who was first to welcome me back and convince me to continue participating on the website.
So, again I had to start back up. The rest is history!!
MARK: Thank you for being the close friend that we became. May the good Lord welcome you with open arms into his kingdom. I know youll be looking down upon us. I promise you that Ill continue to make entries and to keep this site alive! RIP my friend. Youll be missed by many. ♥️
RIP Mark!
Mark was the first person to pm me (with pointers) after I found one of Pooga's marked bills.
I consider myself lucky to have one of his stamps, as he sold me one cheap when he stepped back and was in temporary retirement from the site.
If I look at my list of pms, about 1/3 are from Mark!
We even talked coins and coin banks, as Mark was passionate about things that he was interested in.
As the song goes "All we got to do is Live and Die", from the little I personally know of Mark, he seems to have done a good job!
Mark was a good friend and we talked often through the years. One of the things that Mark missed the most was the coffee and dinner meetings that we use to have. Mark was also very motivated to be number one and achieved his goal and maintained it. It will be a long time before anyone surpasses the number of notes he entered.
Mark will be remembered. I have many memories of Mark.
I am sure that his notes will continue to get hits for some time and when I hit one I know it will spark many memories…
I am very sorry to hear this. 😢
I was never active enough a few years ago to get to know BC, and I had never really posted on the forums either.
About two years into my inactivity, he sent me a private PM to send greetings and hope that I'd come back to the site. Just goes to show how nice he was, even to someone that had barely used the site.
Rest in peace BC, you will be missed!
My condolences to the family. He was good people.
I will always remember our coffee group meet we had and got to meet some of the people here and BC
That and our private messages
The site has lost a true money tracking advocate.
His addiction to CMT was strong, and he did as much as he could to keep it going. He even offered to help defray the costs of an upgrade/rewrite.
Outside of tracking, he was great to talk to at coffee meetings and dinners.
I also used his landscaping services in the past, and bought a fridge from him when his wife decided she didn't like it. Mine did, and it lasted a long time.
You will be missed Mark!
Vichnaya pamyat!
I was very sorry to hear of Mark's passing. He and I had our tussles way back when – there's even a site announcement to us both in the Forums! :) I am happy to say that we made our peace when we discovered that we shared a connection to those who served in Bomber Command during WWII. Mark bought a couple copies of the book I had written about my father's service during the war (and he paid for them with stamped $5s… which I dutifully entered!). He was a very kind booster of my book and we ended up as friends… we were not FAST friends, by any stretch, but there was far more that bound us than separated us.
You have earned your rest, my friend. PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
Mark Cote AKA RUDYK
