For the 17th-century Swedish Pomeranian general major and vice governour, see Paul Wirtz (Swedish Pomerania)Paul Wirtz (May 3, 1958 - April 6, 2006) was a Canadian figure skating coach.
At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the 2014 World Championships, Radford and Meagan Duhamel performed to a piece of music "Tribute" that Radford had personally composed as a tribute to Wirtz.Wirtz was openly gay.
When Radford came out as gay in 2014, he credited Wirtz as an important influence on his acceptance of his own sexuality: "Paul was the first gay person I ever saw in real life.
The gay people on TV were always very flamboyant, and until I met Paul I didn't realize you could be gay and just be normal.
He was the first person I saw who was like that, gay and just normal.
He made me realize I didn't have to be afraid of it."