Rolf Priesnitz, Publisher
Life Media

 Read a feature interview
with Rolf Priesnitz,
which was published in the
November/December 2006
30-year celebration issue of
Natural Life Magazine.

Join my Linked-In page at 
Linkedin.com/in/RolfPriesnitz 
to get in touch. 

I have been an instructor, a professor, a coordinator, an academic chair, a community college director, a pilot, a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserve, a chief training officer, a plumber, a steamfitter, instrumentation technician and a construction manager, having started my plumbing apprenticeship by hiring and then indenturing myself to a journeyperson plumber.

With over 40 years experience as an apprentice, journeyperson, and supervisor in residential, commercial and industrial construction, maintenance and service work including construction management on projects from Alberta to Romania, 48 years experience as a part-time magazine and book publisher, and over 17 years in academia, I am still learning daily. 

As a skilled trades educator and leader I have taught, mentored, and inspired hundreds of apprentices, students, and faculty. I have Red Seal Endorsements on certificates in steamfitting and plumbing, as well as a pipefitting instructor's certificate from Purdue University and a community college education diploma from Nova Scotia Community College.

As a director at the Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, I oversaw the development and delivery of training programs that gave students the technical expertise to enter the construction field of their choice. I also inspired and helped build the Green Building Centre at the college, where we developed, tested, and implemented sustainable building practices and technologies. 

As director of Apprenticeship Programs for the college my passion was to promote the value and importance of skilled trades as a rewarding and fulfilling career path. In recognition of my contribution to the advancement of training for skilled trades and technologies, I received the Skills Canada - Ontario, Klaus Woerner Skilled Trades Hall of Fame Award.

As a member of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA), I have worked in the jurisdictions of: UA Local Union 67, Hamilton, Ontario; UA Local Union 496, Calgary, Alberta; UA Local Union 46, Toronto, Ontario; UA Local Union 800, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario; UA Local Union 488, Edmonton, Alberta; UA Local Union 401, Bowmanville, Ontario; UA Local Union 663, Sarnia, Ontario; and UA Local Union 213, St John, New Brunswick.

Companies that I have worked with include: A E Anderson; A J Reinhardt; Adam Clark Co; Aiton Power; Andco Jaddco; Arthur G. McKee & Co; AWS Consulting; Babcock-Wilcox Canada; Bennett & Wright; Black & MacDonald; BML Multi Trades Group; Canal Electric; Catalytic Enterprises; Comstock Canada; Comstock International; Consolidated Maintenance Service; Cooper Heat of Canada; Edmonton Pipe Trades Educational Trust Fund; Electronic Pneumatic Instrumentation; Fraser-Brace Engineering Co; Fred Priesnitz Plumbing & Hot Water Heating; Fred's Plumbing; George Brown Community College; Goodram Bros; Hamilton Board of Education; Howden Parsons; Instrument Control Service; Johnson Controls; Kell Mechanical; Kvaerner Constructors; Kvaerner Sheafer-Townsend; Lee Wilson Engineering; Life Media; Mainway Industrial Installations; Mechanical Contracting Trades; MHG International; Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology; Natural Dynamics; Nova Scotia Community College; Nuclear Construction Managers / Foundation Company of Canada; Ontario Hydro; Ralph M. Moore Industrial Installations; Resource Industrial Group; Rodco Mechanical; Royal Canadian Air Force Reserve; Sayers & Associates; Sheafer-Townsend; Shewfelt & Dezainde Construction; SI Guttman; State Electric; State Group; Toronto Training Board / Toronto Workforce Innovation Group; United Association, Local 67 / Mechanical Contractors Association Hamilton, Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee.

Locations that I’ve worked at include: Algoma Steel, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario; Stelco, Hilton Works, Hamilton, Ontario; Stelco, Nanticoke, Ontario; Dofasco, Hamilton, Ontario; Texico Oil Refinery, Nanticoke, Ontario; Imperial Oil Refinery, Edmonton, Alberta; Imperial Oil Refinery, Sarnia, Ontario; Petro-Canada Oil Refinery, Oakville, Ontario; Polysar Petrochemical Plant, Sarnia, Ontario; Ontario Hydro, Coal Fired Power Plant, Nanticoke, Ontario; Ontario Hydro, Darlington Nuclear Power Generation Station, Bowmanville, Ontario; NB Power, Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, Maces Bay, New Brunswick; Candu Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1, Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă, Romania; St. Joseph's Villa, Dundas, Ontario; McMaster Hospital, Dundas, Ontario; McMaster Nuclear Reactor, Dundas, Ontario.