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Andy Bruziewicz a man of the people.
When Andy Bruziewicz isn't involved in politics chances are he's sitting at a chess board.
The 58-year-old independent candidate in Sarnia-Lambton learned the game in his native Poland at the age of 12 from his math teacher — then a national champion.
"I was very upset that I was at first losing to the guy," he recalls. But it wasn't long before Bruziewicz was a junior champion himself and beating his former mentor.
The former Team Canada chess member still offers lessons in Sarnia, but does most of his playing online where he's logged more than 30,000 games.
Some of his most memorable matches were with the late Sarnia public school board trustee Paul Millman.
"He was my advisor, but we were also fierce competitors on the chess board, Bruziewicz said. "He was the second best player. If I didn't come to this country he would be the best one."
Bruziewicz moved to Sarnia in 1974, midway through his studies in materials engineering at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow, to help care for an aging uncle.
"I decided not to go back," he said.
He studied chemical technology at Lambton College before learning to speak English, and mastered the language by reading the Bible daily and playing Scrabble.
He spent four years working at Imperial Oil before taking administrative and commercial studies at the University of Western Ontario.
The longtime Sarnia city councillor's political career began at the university when he ran for a senate seat.
Bruziewicz won a spot on city council in 1994, after serving with the Business Improvement Association, Business Park Committee, and spending five years with the Sarnia Hydro Electric Commission.
These days he deals with an occasional bout of insomnia by engaging in another favoured pastimes.
"If I cannot sleep I just march five to 10 miles," he said. "I walk quite a bit ... I can still walk to Camlachie and back."
He hasn't returned to Poland since before his mother died five years ago, even though his two older sisters want him to participate in a national games tournament, like the Olympics, he said.
He carries on a 'Friends of Andy B' team in the annual Big Bike for Heart and Stroke fundraiser in memory of his mother and late father.
Bruziewicz occasionally works as a translator and is on the board of directors for Nordex Explosive Ltd., a manufacturer, developer and distributor of commercial explosives.
He's also a self-proclaimed man of the people who's developed many relationships across the riding.
Even as he speaks, a man comes over and jokes that he won't vote for Bruziewicz on Oct. 6.
"You're needed here," the man says, before walking away.
"It happens quite a bit," Bruziewicz says.
When Andy Bruziewicz isn't involved in politics chances are he's sitting at a chess board.
The 58-year-old independent candidate in Sarnia-Lambton learned the game in his native Poland at the age of 12 from his math teacher — then a national champion.
"I was very upset that I was at first losing to the guy," he recalls. But it wasn't long before Bruziewicz was a junior champion himself and beating his former mentor.
The former Team Canada chess member still offers lessons in Sarnia, but does most of his playing online where he's logged more than 30,000 games.
Some of his most memorable matches were with the late Sarnia public school board trustee Paul Millman.
"He was my advisor, but we were also fierce competitors on the chess board, Bruziewicz said. "He was the second best player. If I didn't come to this country he would be the best one."
Bruziewicz moved to Sarnia in 1974, midway through his studies in materials engineering at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow, to help care for an aging uncle.
"I decided not to go back," he said.
He studied chemical technology at Lambton College before learning to speak English, and mastered the language by reading the Bible daily and playing Scrabble.
He spent four years working at Imperial Oil before taking administrative and commercial studies at the University of Western Ontario.
The longtime Sarnia city councillor's political career began at the university when he ran for a senate seat.
Bruziewicz won a spot on city council in 1994, after serving with the Business Improvement Association, Business Park Committee, and spending five years with the Sarnia Hydro Electric Commission.
These days he deals with an occasional bout of insomnia by engaging in another favoured pastimes.
"If I cannot sleep I just march five to 10 miles," he said. "I walk quite a bit ... I can still walk to Camlachie and back."
He hasn't returned to Poland since before his mother died five years ago, even though his two older sisters want him to participate in a national games tournament, like the Olympics, he said.
He carries on a 'Friends of Andy B' team in the annual Big Bike for Heart and Stroke fundraiser in memory of his mother and late father.
Bruziewicz occasionally works as a translator and is on the board of directors for Nordex Explosive Ltd., a manufacturer, developer and distributor of commercial explosives.
He's also a self-proclaimed man of the people who's developed many relationships across the riding.
Even as he speaks, a man comes over and jokes that he won't vote for Bruziewicz on Oct. 6.
"You're needed here," the man says, before walking away.
"It happens quite a bit," Bruziewicz says.
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