Shell Busey

Shell Busey died in the early hours of 27 October 2026, aged 83. His family's obituary, published online on 8 November 2026, said he "passed peacefully on his own time." No cause of death was made public.

At his request there was no funeral service. The family asked that donations in his name be made to organisations such as The Zajac Ranch for Children or the Urban Safari Rescue Society.

Sheldon Emerson Busey was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, on 25 November 1942, the third of five children. His father, Emerson, worked for many years at the Kennedy Foundry in Owen Sound, where he was credited with inventing a machine that shaved large ship propellers to their final shape, and later became a tool and die maker for RCA Victor.

Busey had little interest in schoolwork; his passion was carpentry and mechanics. As a boy he delivered The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Owen Sound Sun Times by bicycle, and later delivered prescriptions for a local drug store. At 13 he entered the industrial programme at Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute, studying cabinetry, electrical work, plumbing, motor mechanics and drafting. A teacher, Bill Graham, helped him find work at Beaver Lumber.

Busey started at Beaver Lumber in Owen Sound in 1961 as an 18 year old stock boy. He completed the company's management training in Oakville in 1965, became assistant manager in Barrie, and soon after became store manager in Orangeville at 23, the youngest in the chain. He later managed and supervised stores across Ontario before moving to British Columbia in 1974 to run the western division of Saveway Stores, Beaver Lumber's new cash and carry arm.

In 1977 he and his wife Frankie bought a Windsor Plywood franchise in Delta and turned it into an award winning business, later adding a second store in Coquitlam. They went independent in 1983 under the name Build-it Centre.

That same year he began hosting The Build-It Show on CJOR radio in Vancouver, broadcasting from a small studio in his own store. In 1988 BC Hydro made him the spokesperson for its PowerSmart energy saving programme, and he hosted the BC Hydro Home Ideas Show on CKNW and its satellite network, broadcasting from towns across the province. When the sponsorship changed, the show became the Home Discovery Show, carried on weekend mornings across much of Canada until July 2011.

On television he was a regular guest on BCTV from 1994, and in 1995 launched Home Check on CHEK-TV in Victoria. Its 118 episodes were later shown across Canada and in Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and South Korea. He was a guest judge on HGTV's Handyman Superstar Challenge from 2007 to 2009, wrote columns for publications across western Canada, and founded the HouseSmart Home Services Referral Network.

Busey was elected a Delta municipal councillor on 2 December 1985 and re-elected in December 1987.

Busey married Frankie, his partner in business as well as life, and they were together for 61 years. They had two daughters, Kyna and Monica, and lived in Surrey, British Columbia. The couple were long involved in volunteer work in their community, and in 2017 he lent his name to Shell Busey's Tool Box, a tools only thrift shop in Cloverdale that raised money for the Surrey Hospice Society.

Busey was a pioneer of call in home improvement broadcasting in Canada, giving practical advice to listeners decades before renovation television became a crowded genre. His family's obituary said he left a wide legacy, touching and impacting many people in more ways than they would ever know, and listeners remembered him as generous with his time and knowledge.