Kazimierz Patalas

Kazimierz Patalas was born to Stanislaw and Bronislawa (nee Roszak) in Rakoniewice (near Poznan) in western Poland, on 24 August 1925.

As a teenager, he was taken to Germany for forced labour during World War II and later joined the underground resistance organization, Szare Szeregi. He graduated from high school in Kotoszyn in 1946. He later supported the school over three decades with a scholarship in his name and assisted over 200 students.

It was in Kotoszyn that he met Jozefa Piestrakiewicz whom he married in 1951. They had three children: Jacek, Marysia (who died at age 5), and Ewa.

Kazimierz earned his doctorate degree in Poland and became a research scientist, studying inland aquatic ecosystems. As a Professor in Hydrobiology in Olsztyn, Poland, he became renowned in this field and was recruited to the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg in 1967. He worked there for 25 years, until his retirement in 1992.

Kazimierz did field work throughout Canada. With a colleague, he developed the Schindler-Patalas Plankton Trap which is in use to this day.

He and his wife were pillars of the Polish community in Winnipeg with their involvement in the Polish Combatants’ Association and the Andrew Bobola Parish. He hosted a television show, Polonika, on a local station. Their home was the center of social life for friends and visiting Polish luminaries.

In his retirement, he conducted many video-taped interviews with 45 Polish veterans who had settled in Winnipeg after the war. These were published in Polish in 1996 and later translated to “Providence Watching” in 2003.

Dr. Kazimierz Patalas passed away in Winnipeg on 16 January 2026, at the age of 100 years.