In Memoriam

Pullikattil Chacko Simon, MSc’60

March 1, 1913 – March 8, 2017

Pullikattil Chacko SimonPullikattil Chacko Simon was born on a small farm in Kerala, India. After graduating from Madras Veterinary College, he filled many government posts. Later, he moved to Sri Lanka where, as district veterinarian, he established several government veterinary hospitals and contributed greatly to livestock improvement. Because of these contributions, he was awarded special Ceylon Citizenship by the Prime Minister.

In 1957, he emigrated to Canada, where he was recruited by the Canada Department of Agriculture as a meat inspector. After completing a master’s degree in microbiology from UBC, he transferred to the Federal Department of Agriculture Animal Pathology Laboratory as a pathologist and research scientist. He published many scientific papers and contributed to a textbook on infectious diseases of animals.

After retiring from Canada Agriculture, he taught a course in animal pathology for the Department of Animal Science at UBC.

He served as treasurer on the board of Unity Church and was one of their most popular speakers. He was co‑founder and president of the Hatfield Society, an organization which housed parolees and helped reintegrate them into the community. He founded and funded the Chacko and Lize Simon Trust for Sacred Heart Hospital School of Nursing in Kerala and the Chacko and Lize Simon Scholarship, which has provided nearly 4,000 scholarships to children of the very poor in his native Kerala.

In 1996, the Hatfield Society changed its mandate and established the Hatfield Society Scholarship Fund for students from low‑income families in the Greater Vancouver Area. Eighty students have benefited.

In his eighties and nineties, he published 42 magazine articles and two books: The Missing Piece to Paradise and The Philosopher’s Notebook.

In 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to society