Businessman.
Born at Raesfeld, Germany on 16 January 1908 to Christine Maria Buss (1863-1936) and Johann Bernard Seier (1864-1927), he was the youngest of ten children. He came to Canada to seek his fortune in 1927 and arrived in Winnipeg in 1929.
In 1936 he founded the Vita Health Company, providing his customers with alternative health options. He started with a mail-order business selling traditional European remedies to European-born immigrants. In 1940, he opened a juice bar and launched one of Canada’s first vegetarian restaurants, on Fort Street. In the early 1950s, he created a health newsletter, and opened his first retail location. His son-in-law, John Holtmann, came into the business in 1971. The company also opened a second location in the city in the 1970s.
Eventually, with his sons and Holtmann, he built his own manufacturing operation that grew to a 185,000-square-foot facility in St. Boniface and became a significant supplier of vitamins and supplements to his own small local retail chain as well as to retailers across the country. In 1979, he transferred ownership of the business to his three children. Throughout his career at Vita Health, he emphasized good customer service, giving his clients clear and complete explanations about products and diet regimens, and replying to his correspondence on the same day he received it. There are currently six locations in Winnipeg, now called Vita Health Fresh Market.
On 5 September 1938, he married Marie Kathleen Pohlman (1912-1989) and they went on to have three children. His interests included raising mink, cattle, and trout. His adventurous nature took him to Grand Cayman for 12 years and to Florida for another two years. Then, at the age of eighty-five, he emerged from retirement and began raising ostriches.
He died at Winnipeg on 10 May 2006 and was buried in the St. Margaret’s Parish Cemetery at Lockport.
Marriage registration [Gerhard Wilhelm Seier, Marie Kathleen Pohlman], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 13 May 2006.
“Gerhard Wilhelm Seier,” Danelle-Hueging Family Tree, Ancestry.
“Vita Health profile,” John Lyttle, 8 February 2011, ISSUU.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 18 March 2024
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