Former prime minister Stephen Harper’s fundraiser Mark Kihn has passed away at 60 years old. While no cause of death has been revealed, Kihn died on Sunday. “Mark was a great friend in politics, faith and life,” said Harper in a Monday statement. “Laureen [Harper] and I will miss him dearly.”Stephen’s Canadian Alliance leadership campaign manager Tom Flanagan said he first met Kihn in 2001 during his bid. “Mark was in charge of fundraising through direct mail, telephone calls, and personal contact,” said Flanagan. “My most vivid memory of Mark is when we went out to have lunch.”Kihn said he could raise money anywhere and proceeded to talk the restaurant owner into making a contribution to Stephen's campaign. As a devout Christian, Flanagan said he would appreciate him saying Requiescat in Pace, but he might have preferred German to Latin.Kihn had been recognized as one of the people who helped Stephen obtain power with the Conservatives in 2006. He helped him to take control of the Canadian Alliance. In 2001, the Reform Party’s aspirations were fading away. While the Canadian Alliance had increased Reform’s seat count in the House of Commons in the 2000 election, it had stalled under former leader Stockwell Day’s leadership. It was because of Harper’s leadership with assistance from people such as Kihn that he could rebuild the trust in Alliance’s factions, merge it with the Progressive Conservatives, start a second leadership bid, and end up becoming prime minister.
