Karol Krotki *60

Born in Poland, Krotki escaped into exile after the 1939 Nazi invasion that started World War II. Enlisting in the British Army, he fought in the North African campaigns. After the war, he remained in England and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cambridge. In 1960 he earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton, where his dissertation was supervised by Ansley Coale, the leading demographer of the era.

Missions abroad made Krotki an expert in Moslem demography. From 1964 to 1968, he was with the Dominion Bureau of Statistics before joining the sociology department of the University of Alberta, where he earned the title of university professor in 1982. He retired in 1990.

At Alberta, Krotki was instrumental in establishing a strong demography department and its Population Research Laboratory. He authored, co-authored or edited 12 books and monographs and more than 100 scholarly articles. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, Canada’s most prestigious academic body.

Krotki is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Joanna; three sons; seven grandchildren; one great-grandson; and a sister in Poland.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.