Tadeusz A. Glista

Tadeusz A. Glista was renowned President of the Head Executive Board of The Polish Alliance of Canada between 1965 and 1975. He introduced many new innovative initiatives in all aspects of his work as a member and a board director. Organizational skills, spontaneity, wide-ranging interests, and indestructible energy allowed him to work both socially and politically in purely Canadian circles.

He was born on September 22, 1933, in Henribourg, Saskatchewan. He was the third son of Jozef and Maria Glista, who had immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1929 and had purchased a farm near Prince Albert. Later, they moved to Toronto.

Tadeusz Glista completed high school in Toronto, studied Business Administration at Ryerson Institute of Technology, and obtained his Chartered Life Underwriter diploma at the University of Toronto.

He was a member of Polish organizations from his early childhood. In 1949, as a 16-year-old boy, he was the President of Branch 7’s Youth Alliance. Between 1952 and 1957, he was President of the Youth Alliances’ Central Board, during which time he organized 12 new groups.

Between 1957 and 1965, he was Vice-president of the PAC Head Executive Board, and from 1965 to 1975, he was the youngest President of the biggest and oldest Polish and ethnic organization in Canada.

When he was elected to this position, the Alliance began a 10-year period of large involvement in Canadian life, establishing contacts with political leaders, creating closer ties with Poland by organizing trips to Poland, taking national holidays under patronage, sponsoring performances of „Mazowsze” and „Slask,” and financially supporting the reconstruction of the Royal Palace in Warsaw.

Thanks to the initiative of Tadeusz Glista, The W. Reymont Foundation was established in 1970, and it began youth summer excursions to Polish language and culture courses, organized by the Lublin Catholic University and the Jagiellonian University in Cracow.

When land in Grimsby was purchased, Glista was the main initiator of the construction of the Place Polonaise Polish centre, which was ceremoniously opened in 1972 by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Thanks to the efforts of Tadeusz Glista, a new building was purchased on Bloor Street West for the PAC Head Executive Board and The Alliancer in 1974. The President of the PAC was also interested by other ethnic groups and multiculturalism in Canada. One of his achievements in the realm of culture was the purchase of 26 paintings by Ukrainian-Canadian painter William Kurelek, which represented Polish life in Canada; later, Glista organized a very popular display that toured all of Poland. The collection of this painter’s works was then donated to the Hamilton Art Gallery, where they are now on permanent exposition.

Tadeusz Glista was spokesman for the Polish Community in the Advisory Committee of Multicultural Affairs, as Ontario’s provincial chairman. He secured government scholarships for students going to Poland.

He played an active part in the Canadian Liberal Party’s activities. He was President of the Rotary Club of Mississauga and a member of many other clubs, including a golf club in Mississauga. During this time, the Polish community became a much more important ethnic community in Canada.

Tadeausz Glista had a wife named Marina and four children. Marina Glista was a member of the Alliance for many years. She was involved in Branch 10’s Youth Alliance in Brantford, edited the monthly Polish periodical “How’s It Going”, and took part in many endeavours organized by her husband. In recognition of her contributions, the PAC General Assembly gave Marina Glista lifelong honourary membership to the Alliance in 1983.

The sudden death of Tadeusz Glista on January 12, 1982, was a huge loss for his close ones and for the entire Polish community in Canada.

„This death was an irreparable loss not only for The Polish Alliance of Canada but also for the entire Polish community. His contribution to the life of the Polish nation was renowned and reached far beyond the average interests of a Pole – a Canadian of Polish origin. His pioneering role in bringing the Canadian-born Polish generation into Canadian political life was unmatched in the Polish community’s history. He was a diamond in our Alliance and Polish community life,”

was published in the Alliance’s press. Every year, during the awarding of W. Reymont Foundation scholarships, the T. Glista award is given to outstanding volunteers of the Polish community. This prize is annually handed out by Marina Glista, who is usually accompanied by her son Greg.

Every year, new generations of young Polish-Canadians are able to hear about a great, unusual, and worthy volunteer of The Polish Alliance of Canada.