Sarnia’s Walter Petryschuk remembered as a ‘true renaissance man’

Walter Petryschuk, a petrochemical industry leader, conservationist and community volunteer, died Saturday. He was 87.

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Petryschuk died at home in Sarnia, two days after the death of his wife, Mary, at Bluewater Health. She was 86.

“He was a true renaissance man” known for his “energy and long-term thinking for the community,” said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.

“The Lawrence House wouldn’t be there today if it wasn’t for him,” Bradley said.

Born near Point Pelee National Park, Petryschuk grew up on a farm and went to a one-room schoolhouse before attending high school in Leamington and then the University of Toronto and McMaster University where he earned a master’s degree and doctorate in chemical engineering.

Petryschuk managed the former Polysar’s Sarnia manufacturing plant and Suncor’s Sarnia refinery.

It was while he was at Suncor in the mid-1980s that Petryschuk put in motion a project to help the city restore an historic mansion in Sarnia’s downtown.

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Petryschuk told The Observer in 2016 he was plant manager when a $380 million expansion was completed on time at Suncor’s Sarnia site, and $50 million to $60 million under-budget.

He said Suncor’s president came to him while visiting Sarnia, “and said, ‘Walter, find a project for us, to recognize the community and thank them for their contribution.’”

That led to Suncor’s $500,000 contribution to the restoration of the Lawrence House and later Petryschuk was a driver behind creation of the Lawrence House Center for the Arts.

“He was the first chair of the board and always remained an ardent supporter,” Leonard Segall, current center chairperson, said in a statement.

“Walter and Mary were regulars at our exhibition openings and concerts and attended our annual general meeting every year to keep abreast of our activities and our finances,” Segall said.

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“They were enthusiastic supporters of everything we do” and “will be sorely missed,” he said.

Petryschuk was responsible for McMaster University’s Management of Technology and Innovation Institute and he was director general of the National Research Council’s Manufacturing Technology Institutes in London and Vancouver.

In 2010, he helped form the Bowman Center for Sustainable Energy, a sustainable energy think tank in Sarnia.

“He has just been a tremendous, positive, encouraging fellow,” said center president Marshall Kern. “There were certainly times where he would put a very strong hand on my shoulder to reassure me that I’m doing the right thing.”

“Other times he would look sideways at me with one eyebrow raised and I just knew I needed to think about what I wanted to say,” Kern said.

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In 2013, Petryschuk was chairperson of a conference the Bowman Center hosted in the Sarnia area for delegates from across Canada to explore the case for refining and processing more of Alberta’s crude oilsands within Canada.

“Walter seemed unstoppable as conferences were organized and books published,” Kern said in a statement released on behalf of the Bowman Center.

In the late 1970s, Petryschuk bought 16 hectares of mostly bush on Hillsboro Road, outside of Forest, from a fellow Polysar worker he heard musing one day about selling. It became the Mary and Walter Petryschuk Conservation @Hickory Creek, a private conservation site he maintained over the years, planting trees and growing apples and vegetables.

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“God, you’ve got to get out of Chemical Valley,” he said in 2020 about what motivated him at the time to purchase the site. “You’ll go nuts.”

In 2021, the Petryschuks received an award from the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority for their conservation efforts.

Bradley said Petryschuk was “just a dynamo, and highly respected.”

“He was an idea guy, always looking for new things to do and to accomplish,” he said.

“I thought the world of him, and he accomplished a lot for the city.”

Family and friends will be received Friday, 4 pm to 7 pm, at Smith Funeral Home in Sarnia where a service will be held Saturday at 11 am

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