Peter Petrasuk is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman, lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, and former politician.

Born in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 in 1926, Petrasuk came to Canada when his family immigrated in 1931. The family settled at first in Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, but moved in 1941 to Rosebud, Alberta, where they operated a local hotel.

Petrasuk graduated from the University of Alberta

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

 with a degree in engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 before being hired by the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela as the head of planning, development, and management of the city's utility system. He later returned to Canada and graduated from the University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

 with a law

Bachelor of Laws

The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree. He moved to Calgary and in 1966 was voted onto the city council

Calgary City Council

The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The Council consists of two offices; Office of the Mayor and Office of the Alderman. Naheed Nenshi was elected to the Office of the Mayor in October 2010 as the city's 36th chief executive...

, remaining there until 1974. In that year and again in 1977 Petrasuk ran unsuccessfully for mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

; he also ran in various provincial and federal elections during the late 1970s.

In 1981, Petrasuk pled guilty to charges of theft and breach of trust after having stolen almost $1,000,000.00 from clients of his law practice, including his own mother. He was sentenced to ten years in the Bowden

Bowden, Alberta

Bowden is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Red Deer County, south of Red Deer, on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.- Geography :Nearby communities are Innisfail , James River Bridge , Huxley and Olds ....

Institution, a federal penitentiary in central Alberta.

External references

• Biography of Peter Petrasuk from the City of Calgary (retrieved September 18, 2006)