The owner of Winkler Meats, Harry Dyck, died last week at the age of 65, while on a trip to the Ukraine with the Mennonite Central Committee.
Dyck, who started his meat processing business 43 years ago in Winkler, had a reputation as a quiet and honourable gentleman within the industry and in his community.
“When you have somebody who takes a business that is a small, family business … and show the vision to grow the business to the point where it has an impact across the country, I think it’s pretty phenomenal,” said Martin Harder, mayor of Winkler, a mostly Mennonite community located 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
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Dyck was a strong supporter of the work of the MCC and was on an educational tour when he died. The cause of his death has not been released.
He was also an advocate for the bison industry and the Canadian Bison Association (CBA) described his passing “as a great loss to our industry.”
“Mr. Dyck had been a great proponent of the bison association for many years,” said Pauline Long-Wright of the CBA.
“During the years of BSE they certainly did a lot of restructuring in their plant to accommodate increasing the slaughter capacity (for bison).”
Dyck was still actively involved with his company, said Harder, who has known Dyck since 1980.
“He was a very kind, gentle, soft-spoken guy, but with a vision for the future,” Harder said.
Products from Winkler Meats, which was closed June 9 for Dyck’s funeral service, are sold in supermarkets across Canada. The company is probably best known for its farmer’s sausage.
