Voices From The Community
A legacy of learning
Story by Janet Harvey/Photo courtesy of the Przybylski Family
Father Casimir Przybylski loved to learn. He wanted to contribute to scientific knowledge and education by making a bequest in his will to health research. How did he decide where to leave his money? This magazine helped show him the way.
"Learning is not a product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it." This statement is attributed to Albert Einstein, but it could just as easily have been uttered by Casimir Przybylski. A Catholic priest with a keen interest in health, science, and history, Father Casimir personified the concept of lifelong learning.
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| Father Casimir Przybylski |
As his brother Carl Przybylski remembers, "He was always in the books when he was young. And when he was supposed to be working: 'Just give me a few minutes; I have to finish this book,' he would say." That love of learning continued into his later life; Casimir taught himself Latin, Hebrew, and Russian to add to the Polish and English he already knew. He entered the priesthood at the age of 30, and for 44 years he served as a parish priest in northern British Columbia and, later, in the Whitelaw-Fairview area of northern Alberta.
Through his love of learning, Father Casimir came to know of AHFMR. A subscriber to Research News for many years, he was inspired by the magazine to leave a gift to help promote health research and increase scientific knowledge in this province. When he passed away in 2008, he left his entire estate to the Alberta Foundation for Health Research (AFHR), a companion organization to AHFMR. Because AHFMR is not a registered charity, the AFHR was established as a non-profit charitable organization to receive public donations. It was created in response to numerous inquiries from members of the public who wished to donate to AHFMR-supported health research. All funds donated to the AFHR are directed in consultation with the donors, and funding decisions are mediated by the same expert peer-review processes that advise on AHFMR awards.
Father Casimir's legacy—one of the largest single donations ever received by the AFHR—will be used to support neuroscience, an area of study chosen in consultation with his brother Carl and Carl's wife Cecilia. Alberta has already made a name for itself in this field with such world-class research centres as the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary and the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) at the University of Lethbridge. In the fall of 2008, Alberta's strength in neuroscience grew even greater when AHFMR's inaugural Polaris prize brought world-renowned neuroscientist Dr. Bruce McNaughton to Lethbridge to join the CCBN.
Since its establishment in 1994 the AFHR has received more than $800,000 in donations from Albertans who wished to make contributions to health research. Their generosity has helped generate new learning in such areas as perinatal health, tuberculosis, obesity, and brain research.
To obtain more information on the Alberta Foundation for Health Research, or to make a donation, please contact the Foundation at (780) 423-5727 or check our website at www.ahfmr.ab.ca/donations.php