A well-regarded election administrator has died in Victoria after a long struggle with cancer.

Robert Patterson was B.C.'s chief electoral officer from 1990 to 2002, presiding over three dramatic elections.

In 1991, the NDP won its second election in B.C. history, soundly defeating the B.C. Liberals and the Social Credit.

It catapulted former Vancouver mayor Mike Harcourt into the premier's chair. This election also led to the demise of Social Credit, which had ruled B.C. for all but three years over nearly four decades.

Patterson also oversaw the cliffhanger election in 1996, when Glen Clark's New Democrats won a majority of seats even though the B.C. Liberals won the largest share of the popular vote.

He was again in charge in 2001 when the B.C. Liberals delivered the greatest drubbing in B.C. history to the New Democrats, who were only left with two seats in the legislature.

Patterson joined Elections B.C. in 1978, a year before the Social Credit party, under Bill Bennett, was reelected in an extremely close race against Dave Barrett's NDP.

After retiring from Elections B.C., Patterson worked for several organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Carter Center.

"Robert dedicated his professional life to improving and upholding the idea of democracy and believed that every person and every vote counted," states an obituary on the McCall Gardens Guneral & Cremation Services website.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on March 9 in the Sequoia Centre at McCall Gardens (4665 Falaise Drive, Victoria).

It will also be streamed live here.