One of a Kind

One of a Kind | The Dynamite Kid

How David Metcalfe landed every 10-year-old boy’s dream job >

The Italian Job

Born near Naples, Carmelo Rago came to Canada as a 10-year-old boy to reunite with his father who had moved earlier >

As a child he used to write Hardy Boy-like stories and cast himself in the starring role. Len LeSchack (yes, that’s his real name) was raised by Ukrainian immigrants in Queens, New York. He went on to serve in the United States Navy as a spy, undertaking a daring Cold War mission where he parachuted onto a Soviet military station, abandoned when the polar ice began to break apart. He was then reeled back up by hook and line onto a B-17 bomber. >

A Spark of Genius

Ernie Wirtanen
Wirtanen Electric

For a generation of Canadians, the Great Depression was the MBA of the times. Ernie Wirtanen was one of those who learned the harsh lessons of this legendary era. He was luckier than many, and more determined than most.
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Don’t Fear the Plain Word

Christine Mowat
WordSmith Associates

When something is “contemporaneously therewith,” Christine Mowat swings into action with a scythe to cut through high and weedy language. Mowat is president of WordSmith Associates, an Edmonton-based consultancy that teaches plain language and lends simplicity to official documents.
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Easing Off the Throttle

Drayton Valley’s Artie Kos bought his first truck in 1983 at age 23. He started his own trucking company in 1985 and saw it grow over the next 20 years into one of Canada’s largest privately owned oilfield transportation firms with six offices in Alberta, 250 employees, and $77 million in annual sales. After vowing for years that he would never sell the company, Kos accepted an offer in early 2006 from Quebec-based TransForce Income Fund to buy Kos Corp. for an undisclosed amount of TransForce units plus cash. >

Playing Without Rules

Bruce Urban, Owner and Governor General, Edmonton Rush Lacrosse Club >

Chomping at the Bits

Ryan Jackson
President, Canopy Canada

As a child in Swift Current, Sask., Ryan Jackson learned from his car-dealer father that selling automobiles was a good way to make a living.
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A Techie in Oil Country

Jonathan Levine, President, Middle Digital Inc.

interview by Brian Brennan

Jonathan Levine, a.k.a. C.C. Burger, a.k.a. Victor the Cleaner, is a University of Calgary engineering school dropout, former CJSW Radio engineer and a computer hardware designer who founded one of Alberta’s first commercial Internet service providers, Canada Connect, out of his home in 1994. >