Businessman.
Born at Rhein, Saskatchewan on 3 July 1928, the seventh of eleven children of Michael Engel (1895-1974) and Mary Katherine Schwartz (1897-1970), his children was spent there. When three of his brothers went to serve in the Canadian military during the Second World War, he became more actively involved in operation of the family farm. After his brothers returned, he became a professional driver, transporting fuel from refineries in Regina and Moose Jaw to various points around northeastern Saskatchewan. For a time, he had a fuel-hauling business with one of his brothers.
In 1952, he leased one of his trucks to Atomic Transfer, a newly-established trucking company that operated in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Two years later, the company’s founder, A. J. Kellner, approached him to take it over. He recruited his father and two brothers, Ed and George, to join him, necessitating a move to Winnipeg. There, the company flourished and expanded. He eventually became its General Manager and, later President and Chief Executive Officer. The firm expanded into Ontario and the northwestern United States. At its peak in the 1990s, the Atomic group of companies employed some 600 people, owned over 1,000 pieces of equipment, and operated from 18 terminals across Canada, including all provinces west of Quebec, and in two western US states. The company was sold in 1998 and he retired in January 1999.
For his contributions to the transportation industry, he received a National Transportation Week Award of Excellence on 10 June 1992, presented by Albert Driedger, the Minister of Highways and Transportation.
On 7 April 1961, he married Doris Margaret Thérèse Collins Chaput (1923-2016) and they had two sons along with a son from his wife’s previous marriage. The family had a cottage along the Winnipeg River. He was a member of the Masons, Khartum Shriners, Manitoba Club, St. Charles Country Club, and Breezy Bend Country Club. A devout Lutheran, he was a member of Christ Lutheran Church until its closure in 2014. He and his wife wintered at Marco Island, Florida for 30 years (1973-2003). He supported the Luther Home, United Way Winnipeg (Community Chest), Canadian Lutheran World Relief, and The Winnipeg Foundation.
He died at the Concordia Hospital on 6 May 2022.
Death registrations [Mary Katherine Engel, Michael Engel], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Michael Engel], Winnipeg Free Press, 31 December 1974, page 25.
Obituary [Doris Margaret Engel], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 April 2016.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 21 May 2022.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 December 2025
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