Stephen J. Menich

Stephen (Steve) J. Menich was born in 1924 in northern Yugoslavia, formerly Austria-Hungary, and raised in Kitchener from the age of three.

Menich served in the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II and used his veteran credits to attend the University of Toronto, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree. One year later he was registered as a Professional Engineer.

For more than 45 years, Menich volunteered time, service and commitment to people and organizations in a broad range of activities: education, fund raising, service clubs, sports, health, social service, recreation and the environment.

As the building chair for Cameron Heights Secondary School in Kitchener, he initiated the integration and joint use of facilities for both school and community use, a program then continued as other schools were built.

Menich began a demonstration project using a comprehensive approach to industrial waste management. Supported by the City of Kitchener, the seven Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the Waterloo Region, Environment Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 455 local industries were contacted with 452 supporting the program by identifying 653 individual wastes generated within the Region. Five technical manuals were developed for distribution across Canada.

More than 6,000 people learned about remote and seldom visited places in the world from photo slide presentations by Steve, who traveled extensively over more than 35 years exploring new frontiers.

Menich was initially an employee and eventually president and owner of Sutherland-Schultz, the mechanical engineering and contracting company he had joined. His business philosophy was based on the concept of “one source – one responsibility” for industrial and commercial needs, supported by the stated belief that his most important role as president was to care for the welfare of employees. He pioneered the development of computer aided manufacturing systems and held Canadian and US patents for textile machinery sold to users in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. The company grew from 35 to 500 employees.

In October 2002, Menich was awarded the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship.

Photograph Courtesy Forde Studio, Kitchener.