Paul Thorlakson

Paul Henrik Thorbjorn Thorlakson, CC, MD (October 5, 1895 – October 19, 1989) was a Canadian physician and Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg.

Born in Park River, North Dakota, the son of an Icelandic father and a Norwegian mother, he grew up in Selkirk, Manitoba. During World War I he was a medical sergeant. After the war he received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1919. He co-founded the Maclean-Thorlakson clinic, renamed the Winnipeg Clinic in 1938, one of the earliest multi-speciality private group practice clinics in Canada. He was surgeon-in-chief at the Winnipeg General Hospital and professor of surgery at the University of Manitoba. In 1969 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg which he held for nine years.

Honours

 * In 1939 he was named Knight of the Order of the Falcon and was promoted to Commander in 1951.
 * He received honorary doctorates from the University of Manitoba (1952), University of Iceland (1961), Brandon University (1970), and University of Winnipeg (1979).
 * In 1970 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.