Dagmar Kalousek

Dr. Dagmar Kalousek (1943-2015) passed away peacefully with family at her side at Vancouver General Hospital on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. Dagmar is survived by her loving husband Joseph, her daughters, Andrea (Nickolas) Grabovac and Ingrid (Ryan) Tyler, their children Julia, Emily and Kai Grabovac and Clara, Ian and Aimee Tyler, as well as her mother, Jirina Sikora, and brother Igor Mokrys.

Dagmar was born in the small town of Zabreh in Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic) on August 8, 1943. It was here, in high school, that she met her future husband, Joseph. They were married in 1963, at the age of 20, and Dagmar attended Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, where she obtained her initial medical degree.

Dagmar and Joseph immigrated to Canada in 1968 and settled in Montreal, where their daughters were born and where Dagmar completed her training in Pathology and Fellowship in Cytogenetics at McGill University. The family moved to Vancouver in 1977 where Dagmar joined the Pathology Department at the University of British Columbia.

Dagmar became an internationally-renowned researcher. She was the first to describe confined placental mosaicism and spent much of the next decade studying placentas sent to Vancouver from throughout the world leading the field in describing its significance in relationship to birth outcomes. She was an inspired researcher committed to puzzling out mysteries of the emerging science of genetics, with over 350 publications, as well as a textbook on the Pathology of the Human Embryo. She is remembered by her many students, trainees and research fellows as a caring and dedicated mentor. Dagmar received many awards and recognitions during her career, including the BC Women of Distinction Award in Health Sciences and Technology (1996).

In her retirement (2002), Dagmar enjoyed yoga, hiking and challenging herself in new environments, including exploring Machu Picchu in Peru, trekking in Nepal and snorkeling and caving in Belize. However, her favorite pastime was spending time with her grandchildren, encouraging their creativity and self-esteem, and lovingly inspiring them to strive to their full potential.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 AM on Sunday, December 20th at STANLEY PARK PAVILION, 610 Pipeline Road, Vancouver. Since Dagmar’s early teens, her lifelong desire was to care for children in need, with a focus on the relationship between mother and child. In this spirit, in lieu of flowers, donations in Dagmar’s name to Mom2mom are suggested, a grassroots organization that was founded by a local developmental paediatrician to provide mentorship, emotional support, and assistance with education and career development for mothers in need, as well as practical assistance for their children, www.m2mcharity.ca.

Dagmar will be remembered as a thoughtful, generous, and caring grandmother, mother and wife. She will be missed, and her hopes and dreams for the future will live on in our hearts.