Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 08/02) - Kenn Borek, an aviation pioneer of the North, died in a car crash on Easter Sunday near Beaverlodge, Alberta.

Borek, 69, and his 39-year-old daughter, Carleen Rose Borek-Walker, died after she lost control on any ice patch and crashed into a pickup truck. The driver of the pickup was released from hospital.

Borek owned several businesses, most notably Kenn Borek Air Ltd.

Kenn Borek moved to the High Arctic during the oil and gas boom in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969, he bought one airplane and turned a construction firm into Kenn Borek Air Ltd.

The company specializes in polar travel and operates in the most difficult climates and geography in the world. It is now the largest charter company in Canada and the largest Twin Otter operator in the world.

From its head office in Calgary, the company has bases in Iqaluit, Hall Beach, Resolute, Eureka, Cambridge Bay and Inuvik. Kenn Borek Air employs about 400 people.

The company operates a 24-hour air ambulance service from Iqaluit and Resolute and has helped with humanitarian projects in Africa and Pakistan.

Last year, Kenn Borek Air logged a historic rescue mission when it sent a Twin Otter to the south pole to fly a sick doctor.

Steve Penikett, general manager of Kenn Borek Air, has spent 30 years working for Borek.

"He was a very interesting character," said Penikett from the Calgary office. "With an emphasis on the character."

Penikett also described Borek as private, hardworking, unconventional and a family man.

"When you put a conventional problem in front of him, you might expect a conventional answer," he said. "You very seldom got it."

Borek sometimes called him in the middle of the night to inquire about the weather.

"He liked to be kept abreast of what's going on ... A clock didn't seem to matter to him. He could be working at four o'clock in the morning. He could be working at six in the morning," he said.

"He'll be very much missed. Like I said, he was quite a character."

Borek leaves behind a wife and five other children.