Skywalker Jay Cochrane dead at 69

Canadian tightrope walker Jay Cochrane died Wednesday in Niagara Falls, at the age of 69.

Cochrane's philosophy of, "If you can dream it, you can do it," sums up his life. "Jimmy" Cochrane was born in Saint John, N.B., in May 1944, but was raised in Sudbury.

At the age of 14 and against his parents' wishes, he ran away from home to join the circus, performing at the CNE in Toronto.

He referred to himself as the "Prince of the Air" due to his love of skywalking.

His fervour to engage in this unusual line of work was really evident after a near-fatal fall in 1965 in Toronto. He was paralyzed for four years, but returned to his walks after his recovery, amazing the doctors who said he would never walk again.

He has set world and Guinness records in many parts of the world. Cochrane's walks on the high wire are never stunts. His team prepares carefully for his acts to be as safe as possible.
When he crossed Niagara Falls in 1997, his high wire crossed directly over the cataracts. This had never been done before.

In Shanghai, he set a world record for a night-time walk. He has successfully walked across the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and has crossed Disney's Epcott Center. In 1995, his high wire stretched a half mile at 1,350 feet above the Yangtze River in China, a walk which took him 53 minutes.

That made him an iconic figure in China to the point that a stamp was struck with his image and a school now bears his name. He lived on a high wire in Puerto Rico for 21 days.
Cochrane has done much charity work for sick and disadvantaged children worldwide. He hopes his feats will inspire them to triumph over their challenges.

Some people might remember a few years ago, Cochrane returned to Sudbury and walked a tightrope from Sudbury Arena across Brady St. to Tom Davies Square.

For the last couple of summers Cochrane has been performing daily skywalks across from the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls.