Richard (Rick) Arthur Hlushak

The family of Rick Hlushak sadly announce his passing at 59 years old, just one week short of his 60th birthday. Rick was diagnosed with lung cancer in June 2022. Four months later, he passed at Leduc Community Hospital, surrounded by his loving wife and two children. Rick was predeceased by his parents Art and Gladys Hlushak and his younger brother Aaron.

Rick was born in Edmonton, AB, and at age three his parents moved the family to Fort McMurray where his Father started his career at GCOS in 1965. Rick married Sheila in 1992 and they had two children, Rachelle (Garrett) and Ryan. Rick enjoyed martial arts, fishing, motorcycles, and cooking, most famous for his smoked brisket. Rick was proudly promoted to Papa with the birth of Myla Rose in April 2020, a true joy to him.

Rick started his Suncor journey in 1981 in Primary Extraction as an operations trainee, and then moved through the operations progression through the role of Unit Leader. During this time there was an opportunity to be the senior operator on the Steepbank Extraction project (Plant 82). After that, Rick moved to the Millennium Extraction plant (plant 85/86). He stayed within the operations group for the first years of running and started moving up to shift supervisor. At this stage, the Major Projects Group was formed and Rick accepted the role of Commissioning and Start up (C&SU) supervisor, under Les Gaston. The team consisted of Rick, maintenance (Ken Snook) and electrical (Doug Saunders). They started up many projects from the North and South booster pump houses, the MFT transfer project, Dry surge, and Plant 300. When the opportunity to be on the Fort Hills project came available, Rick once again joined the C&SU team to start up those assets. Rick was an integral part of the Commissioning team and his Operations experience, ingenuity, troubleshooting skills and “out of the box” thinking was key to the team’s success. His input was sought out and highly valued during the design and construction phases of the projects and he patiently trained and coached operators, ensuring they were comfortable with the equipment they would soon own. Rick also had a witty, wry sense of humor and was a great team player. He took great pride in his work, always ensuring that assets handed over to the Business Unit after start up were sound and ready to operate as designed. Rick was highly respected by all who knew him. Rick retired at age 55 on May 18, 2017 exactly 37 years from his first start date with Suncor.

The family will not be holding a service. If you wish to leave condolences, a memory or share a story please do so with Dignity Memorial.