Obituary of Paul-Aime Sauriol

NOTICE OF DEATH PAUL-AIME SAURIOL 1931 - 2010 On September 22, 2010, in Laval, Paul-Aime Sauriol passed away at age seventy-nine. He leaves behind his wife Micheline Gingras and his children, Christiane (Christian Joly), Jean-Pierre (Anne-Marie Lenghan), Viviane (Christian Barsamian), Sylvie (Pierre Francoeur), Mario (Joanne Di Fiore), Jean-Paul (Francine Desjardins), Rosaire (Dominique Fortier), Jean-Luc (Nancy Verreault), Benoit (Claire Saad), Emmanuelle (Mamadou Sy) and Yves (deceased); his fifteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; his sisters, Jeanne d'Arc and Colette, and his brothers, Gilbert, Michel, Clement, Germain and Francois, as well as his extended family and friends. Paul-Aime Sauriol will be remembered as a visionary and leader with a generous spirit, who was respected by his peers and well-liked by all. The son of a farmer, Paul-Aime Sauriol was born on September 3, 1931, in the parish of St-Martin in Laval. In 1955, he graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal with a degree in civil engineering. In May of 1957, he joined forces with Claude Desjardins to found the engineering firm DESJARDINS + SAURIOL, which now goes by the name DESSAU. DESSAU played an active role in the development of the City of Laval, which was created when the Ile Jesus municipalities merged in 1961. However, DESSAU's reputation quickly spread beyond the city limits. When Quebec decided in the early 1970s to develop the hydroelectric potential of the James Bay, DESSAU was mandated to build the James Bay access road: 450 miles in 450 days. This exceptional accomplishment made Canadian engineering history and placed DESSAU among the top engineering firms in the country. Today, the company founded by Paul-Aime Sauriol employs nearly 5,000 people in Canada and abroad. DESSAU is ranked among the top 100 engineering-construction firms in the world. Widely recognized by his peers, Mr. Sauriol was the recipient of several important awards, including the 1997 Josef-Hode-Keyser Award for his contributions to Quebec's transportation sector, and the 1998 Dunamis Award for his contributions to the City of Laval's economic development. In 2004, Mr. Sauriol received the Jean-Jacques Archambault Award, the most prestigious award in Quebec's electric industry, and, in 2009, he was honoured by the Armand-Frappier Foundation for his outstanding career. Paul-Aime Sauriol and DESSAU also contributed to several humanitarian causes in Laval and throughout the province of Quebec. A visitation will be held at the Alfred Dallaire Memoria mausoleum located at: (the building at the rear) on Monday, September 27, from 2 to 5 and from 7 to 10 p.m. lThe funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 28 at St-Martin's Church, located at 4080 Blvd St. Martin West. The family will receive condolences at the church as of 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Laval Palliative Care Centre (Maison des soins palliatifs de Laval) located at 655 Bellevue Avenue, Laval, Quebec, H7C 0A8. This centre made it possible for Mr. Sauriol to spend his final days in dignity and respect.