Educator, community activist.
Born at Bad Cannstatt, Germany on 24 April 1938, one of four children of Walter Helmut Kyritz (1908-1956) and Anna Paulina Emilie Kyritz (1911-2003), during the Second World War he moved with his family to several places in eastern Germany and Poland while his father worked as an engineer.
After the war, the family lived at Esslingen, Germany before immigrating to Winnipeg in 1951 on the sponsorship of his uncle Walter who owned the Garwood Grill. They later moved to a house on Mulvey Avenue. He attended Earl Grey School, Kelvin High School, and University of Manitoba where he studied Engineering and was a photographer for The Manitoban. In his final year of Engineering, he changed his plans and switched to the Faculty of Education.
After graduation in 1963, he spent two years teaching at West Treherne School (1963-1965) and Lynn Lake School (1965-?) before getting a job in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division where he taught Physics, Mathematics, Geography, Physical Education, and Music Appreciation for fifteen years, including at Brooklands Collegiate (?-?), Sturgeon Creek School (1975-1977), and John Taylor Collegiate (1978-1981). He also taught Physics at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate in summer sessions. After leaving the classroom in 1981, he became an Economic Welfare and Personnel Service Staff Officer at the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, serving until retirement in 2005.
He was active in educational politics, successively with the Tiger Hills Teachers' Association, Lynn Lake Teachers' Association, and St. James-Assiniboia Teachers' Association. He served as President of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (1977-1978), a director of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (1976-1979), and a director of the Teachers’ Retirement Allowances Fund (1980-1981).
He was married twice, first to Chryle and, around 1983, to Fran. He travelled the world, attending Formula One racing events, collecting art, and attending opera and jazz performances.
He died at the Grace Hospital on 5 February 2025.
“Grim hours on road fatal for 4,” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 December 1956, page 1.
Obituary [Walter Helmut Kyritz], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 December 1956, page 13.
Obituary [Anna Paulina Emilie Kyritz], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 April 2003.
Obituary, Voyage Funeral Homes.
We thank Dorothy Young for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 July 2026
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