Car crash kills wife of General Secretary

Gini Pollesel, wife of Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, was killed in a car accident on Sunday, Dec. 27, near Sudbury, Ont.

Archdeacon Pollesel himself sustained a concussion and broken ribs, while his mother, Maria, sustained minor injuries from the accident, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, in an email circulated to staff in Toronto. They were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Sudbury.

“This is very sad news,” said Archbishop Archbishop Hiltz, as he asked staff to remember the Pollesel family in their prayers. No other details about the accident have been reported.

Mrs. Pollesel has worked as a human resources manager for federal government agencies since 1993.  Besides her husband, Mrs. Pollesel is survived by five adult children.

Archdeacon Pollesel was ordained deacon in the diocese of Toronto in 1979 and a priest in 1980. Before joining the national church he served as interim executive officer of the diocese of Ontario. He obtained his master of divinity degree from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and a doctorate of ministry in 2005 from Colgate-Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York. He spent his undergraduate years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., and at Carleton University and St. Paul’s University in Ottawa.