Svein Olafur Sigfusson (1912-1992)
Athlete, businessman.
Born at Lundar on 15 July 1912, son of Skuli Sigfusson, he was an outstanding athlete who won a bronze medal in the discus at the 1950 British Empire Games. He was also a Canadian champion hammer thrower. He won nine Manitoba championships and nine Canadian championships in the years that he competed in the Amateur Athletics Union. For many years he ran the Sigfusson Transportation Company in Northern Manitoba which operated on a road system of 3,560 miles; most of this road system had been developed by Sigfusson. The Company employed over 400 people, nearly half of whom were of Native origin. In 1972, he was a Liberal candidate for the Selkirk constituency in the federal general election but finished a distant third place. He received the Manitoba Centennial Medal (1970) and Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), and was inducted into the Order of Canada (1974) and Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (1982). In early 1992, he published Sigfusson’s Roads, describing his northern transportation network. He died at Winnipeg on 20 September 1992 and was buried in the Clarkleigh Cemetery.