Harald Kukertz, Classification Refresher
Posted by Vi Hughes on Mar 01, 2017
This past Tuesday we heard a classification refresher from Harald Kukertz, a twenty four year member of our Rotary Club, a Paul Harris Fellow, a sustaining member and also a man with eleven years perfect attendance. His classification is General Law, but I suspect his true love is music, as this is a man who has Bryan Adams’ hit ‘Eighteen Till I Die’ as his ring tone.
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Harald was born and raised in Aachen, Germany, just west of Cologne. His father was an architect who also loved music. Harald’s father died when he was eight and he was raised by his mother. Harald finished high school in Germany and came to Canada to visit his uncle, and loved it so much, that on returning home he worked and saved until he could return again. At seventeen he returned and spent some time, having a good time, in Vancouver. At eighteen, he came to Edmonton to study and stay. He completed law at the U of A and became a Canadian citizen when he joined the bar. He has practiced law in Edmonton since that time, first for a large firm and then as an independent lawyer. He has also taught business classes at NAIT, served on his local community league and belonged to the German Business Association. He served as the Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany for several years, where he helped to process local citizenship applications to the Federal Republic of Germany, acted as a local representative at public events, promoted collaborations with the U of A and other institutions, and visited German citizens in jail.
He met his wife Irene here in Canada, but she is from the same part of Germany as him. They have two children (twins) who are now grown. Harald coached their soccer teams for many years. He has always been a music fan and constantly has music playing in the background. He also attends as many concerts as he can and has a huge collection of music. He has powered through some very serious health issues in the past, as he inherited the kidney disease that took his father. He received a kidney transplant nine years ago, and has done well ever since.
He and Irene are enjoying his partial retirement and have done quite a bit of travelling, with several long trips to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Thailand, Nepal, Bali, Singapore, China, Chile and Easter Island. He has hiked the Milford track in the mountains of New Zealand, gone hiking in Nepal, diving in Fiji and even did a micro flite over Victoria Falls. They also took part in the recent trips to South Africa and Greece. Harald and Irene look forward to being able to continue travelling and enjoying the music for as long as they can.