Giles Andrew Heine

It is with tremendous sadness, that the family announces the passing of beloved son, brother, uncle and friend, Giles, at the age of 49.

From the moment he was born, Giles was full of life, smiling and laughing. He was a source of delight for his mother, siblings, godparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and easily made friends with everyone around him.

Giles soon learned to harness his natural ability with comedy and entertainment, a quality that would carry on throughout his life. From childhood, movies and acting were a big part of his life. He was a master at imitating actors with distinct characteristics, like Christian Slater and Jack Nicholson. Giles and his friends spent countless hours making movies on a handy-cam, including a full-length movie, “Minority Massacre.”

However, Giles’ real passion ignited around age 10, when his childhood and lifelong friend Rich introduced him to rap music. A few years later, Rookie Cyrus was born. Music became his goal, and he worked hard to realize his dream. As he grew, so did his love for music and performing, and before long he brought together others with the same interests and took his place as a frontman for Arkham’s Inmates, CFSK and G. Giles and the Kickoff Party.

Giles was the frontman in all aspects of his life. His family jokingly recalls that he practiced living the rockstar life every day - coming and going in his own time, while everyone around him became his roadies. If you ever found yourself waiting in the car for him, you may have been one of Giles’ roadies!

Giles embodied the rule of living life by your choices. He lived with little to no regret. He often equated his choices to his destiny, where opportunity for regret was adjusted to life working the way it is meant to. At times in his life, he acknowledged that there were “typical” milestones he never achieved, however his emphasis was never on what didn’t happen, rather on the successes gained by having the space to do so.

While his songs and stage presence will remain his hallmark, Giles’ true legacy is through the many lives he touched. He had lifelong friends that grew with him from childhood to adulthood. When Giles made a friend, that friendship would be for life. He was there for his friends, whether it was to help them move, stand up as a groomsman, lend an ear in hard times, or just to share a laugh. The family is grateful for those friends who supported him through his final months.

Giles will be remembered as a kind, gentle person with an easy and contagious laugh. He was the life of the party, whether he was at a poker game with friends and family in his brother’s garage, performing with his band, or stealing the show at karaoke night. It didn’t matter how you knew him, knowing him was knowing what he loved - and participating in it, whether you knew it or not.

The family would like to send sincere gratitude to cousin Tanya Lyn Twiss, a professional nurse, who took on the role of Giles’ Personal Nurse, taking him to every appointment, managing his medications and acting as a conduit between the family and the doctors. We are forever grateful for her expertise, dedication, and kindness in helping us navigate the past two years. She was a Godsend for Giles, and for the family.

Tanya beautifully summed up Giles’ passing in this quote, “He will be remembered best in every song we hear, every card game we play, the movies we watch, but none more than by the emptiness of the spaces he is absent from, where his light no longer shines. His gift to us is our combined love for him and all he embodied, our gifts to him will be how we show up to those places where his light has dimmed, so we bring back his shine together.”

Special thanks also goes to cousin Brenda Zarokostas, who made sure Giles made it to play poker at least twice a week for the last several months. Her kindness and thoughtfulness helped keep Giles’ spirits up through the most difficult time of his life.

Giles was predeceased by his aunt Diane Nichols, sister-in-law Kim Doyle and best friend James Mise, godfather Jean-Guy Bourdage. He is survived by his mother Michelle Lewis, brother Gerald Heine, sister Melodie Heine (Kevin) and nephews Joshua, Jacob and Nathan as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

At the time of writing this, Giles’ beloved godmother, Celine Bourdage, sadly passed away. She was an important person in Giles’ life and will also be dearly missed by the family.

Many thanks also to the incredible staff at Arthur J. Child Cancer Center in Calgary, Alberta.

A celebration of Giles’ life will take place on Saturday, August 30, 2025 at 1:00pm to 4:00pm in Sainte Famille Roman Catholic Church (1717 5th Street SW, Calgary, AB). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Canada Cancer Society.

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