A. E. HAMIELEC

1935 - 2022

1935 - 2022
After a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease Archie passed away January 30, 2022, at age 87, at home in Burlington with his wife of 66 years, Mae at his side. He is survived by three daughters Cindy Hamielec (Kieran Killian) of Hamilton, Lisa Hamielec (John Hripko) and Tia Hamielec of Calgary as well as grandchildren; Fraser, Andrea, Alexandra, Austin, Rhys, and Alexis and four great-grandchildren; Sawyer, Finn, Penelope and Millicent. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Stan and Freddie and his sister Janice.
Archie was born in the village of Maszkienice (near Krakow) in Poland and came to Canada in at age four with his parents Sylwseter and Kunegunda (Connie) and his three siblings. They were on the last boat from Poland in the spring of 1939 just prior to the start of WWII. They settled in Toronto where his father opened a shoe store.
Archie was the only member of his family to finish high school (Jarvis Collegiate) where he was advised to go into a trade. He went on to university and completed undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at U. of T. He received his master's degree in 1955 and his PhD in 1961. After working in industry for a few years he was recruited to McMaster University to teach fluid mechanics. His papers on "Bubbles" are still sited today. Regardless, Archie focused on polymers and became one of the founding fathers of Polymer Reaction Engineering. In 1964 he was the first professor in the world to own GPC equipment. He has published over 500 papers in peer reviewed journals.
Archie was Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering for 10 years and in addition to administrative responsibilities and teaching he gave courses and consulted in industry. These events took him to more than 30 countries around the globe: Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Archie received recognition for his work with promotion to full professor in 1970. He received CSChE's ERCO Award in 1974, CIC Protection Coatings Award in 1978, NSERC Industrial Chair in Polymer Production Technology in 1986, CIC-Dunlop Award in Macromolecular Science and Engineering in 1987, R.S. Jane Award in 1994, and honorary Doctoral Degrees from McMaster and U. of Waterloo. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) in 1987.
Over 40 years Archie supervised 35 PhD students 16 of whom have become University professors; 40 Masters and numerous post doctoral fellows and visiting scientists. In his opinion the well being and success of all of his former students was his greatest achievement.
As per his wishes cremation has taken place. In lieu of flowers consider a donation to the A.E. Hamielec Graduate Student Award at McMaster University. To donate please visit givetomcmaster.ca and enter "A.E. Hamielec Graduate Award" in the designation field. for education in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University.
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