OBITUARY Paul Greico

The Grieco family and the mining community are saddened by the death of Paul Grieco last March. Having attained the...

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The Grieco family and the mining community are saddened by the death of Paul Grieco last March. Having attained the age of 92, Paul was one of the 'originals' of Canada's mining supply entrepreneurs.

orn in New York City of Italian immigrant parents, he arrived in Toronto early in life. From the age of 12 he was working hard to educate himself and contribute to his family. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1935, in the middle of the Depression, and left to work in a remote gold mine.

Married in 1943, Paul took his bride Rose to Rouyn-Noranda, Que., where he worked until 1953 in various capacities as a mine operator, manager and sales engineer.

From Toronto in the 1950s and 1960s he was in charge of the mining sector of the John Inglis Company. When that closed in 1965, Paul became the Canadian representative of Birdsboro jaw crushers and, with Rose, founded P.R. Engineering.

By the early 1970s, their sons Joe and Frank had joined the company that was founded on their kitchen table, and by 1977 they had their impressive manufacturing facility in Oshawa. Today, P.R. Engineering is one of the very few companies in the world that specializes not only in the manufacture of new crushers, but also in the refurbishing of all types, makes and sizes of crushers.

Despite the pressures of business, the centre of Paul's life was his family. In an eloquent eulogy at the funeral mass on March 7, Paul's son Joe characterized his father as "simple, uncomplicated and humble, always giving more than he received." Those of us who had the pleasure of knowing Paul can certainly agree with this. He was a wonderful man. We extend our condolences to the family.

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