Physician and surgeon, community activist.
Born at Winnipeg on 27 November 1923, son of Paul Henrik Thorbjorn Thorlakson and Gladys Maree Henry (1896-1987), he attended Gordon Bell High School then enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He interrupted his medical studies to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. He served on ship convey service on the North Atlantic Ocean.
After his military discharge, he returned to Winnipeg and completed his medical training, receiving an MD degree in 1949. He pursued postgraduate training in Britain and was posted to hospitals at several places before returning home in 1956. He began a general surgical practice at the Winnipeg Clinic and Winnipeg General Hospital and later joined the surgical staff of the Victoria General Hospital.
He was an early pioneer in gastric bypass surgery and, in the early 1980s, assisted in the introduction of mammography to Manitoba. As an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, he helped to train medical students, interns, and residents. He was the originator, and for 17 years Editor, of the “Surgical Undergraduate Training Handbook”. After formal retirement, he contined to perform minor surgeries and see patients on a consulting basis until final retirement at the age of 85.
On 11 August 1950, he married social worker Lorna Marion Olson (1924-2014) and they had two daughters and two sons. Active in the community, he served on the boards of various organizations including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Rainbow Stage, and St. John’s-Ravenscourt School. He chaired two successful fundraising campaigns, the “Valuing the Icelandic Presence” at the University of Manitoba and the “Future Fund Capital Campaign” for Lögberg-Heimskringla, the oldest continuously published ethnic newspaper in North America.
In recognition of his community service, he was inducted into the Order of the Falcon (2000) and the Order of Canada (2008). He received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), the Peter D. Curry Chancellor’s Award (University of Manitoba), and the Lawrence S. G. Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award (Icelandic National League of North America).
He died at Winnipeg on 26 January 2024.
Birth registration [Thorbjorn Kenneth Thorlakson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Lorna Marion Thorlakson], Winnipeg Free Press, 9 September 2014.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 16 March 2024.
We thank Trish Loewen for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 August 2024
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