Obituary: Mr. Football: Kirkland’s Bob Mironowicz Has Died

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Bob Mironowicz, director of amateur soccer in Quebec and a devoted supporter of Montreal’s Sun Youth organization, died on January 7. He was 68 years old.

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Mironowicz served as director of Football Quebec, which oversees amateur soccer in the province. He also trained for more than 40 years.

“Few people will know the full influence it will have when it comes time to assess Quebec’s position in Football Canada,” Football Quebec wrote on its Facebook page. “His departure is a tragedy for the collective memory of our organization, you who have been involved for more than 30 years on the board of directors. You were a football lover!”

The Sun Youth organization also mourned his loss. Mironowicz has served as chairman of the Sun Youth board of directors since 2014. He also coached SYO soccer teams for decades, beginning in the 1970s, along with his friend Earl De La Perralle, who co-founded the downtown community organization with Sid. Stevens.

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“Bob grew up with Sun Youth and was with the organization for 54 years, as a basketball player with the Clark Street Sun, and then as a volunteer, first as a football coach, then as a board member since the early 1990s. and finally as president. from the Board in 2014 until his sudden passing,” Sun Youth wrote on its Facebook page.

“Bob was a passionate, generous, sensitive and funny human being who cared about the success of young people and changed the lives of countless people during his lifetime. He took over the reins of our organization, following the illness of his former coach and longtime friend, Earl De La Perralle.”

After de La Perralle’s death in 2018, Mironowicz helped fill the void, said Ann St. Arnaud, a spokeswoman for Sun Youth.

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“Bob was an entrepreneur who did not accept defeat and during his tenures as chairman of the Sun Youth board of directors, he put his talents to work to ensure the future of the organization.”

Mironowicz also helped organize an annual golf tournament that served as a major fundraiser for Sun Youth. Many former players and coaches participated, crediting Sun Youth for their own athletic and personal achievements.

Mironowicz grew up on Plateau Mont Royal near St. Urbain St. He also played soccer at Vanier College and St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

He moved to the West Island suburb of Kirkland in 1980 to raise a family, but coaching underage soccer remained a passion of his.

He coached local youth teams and eventually became president of the Lakeshore Soccer Association. Lakeshore became a competitive program under his guidance.

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Ted Stote, who took over from Mironowicz at Lakeshore, said the organization “benefited from Bob’s devotion to football.”

Stote noted that Mironowicz not only trained his two sons, Tim and Scott, at Lakeshore, “but to stay 20 years after his sons are gone is just exceptional.”

“Lakeshore soccer has been through a lot of ups and downs during that time and Bob deserves all the credit for keeping it together for 20 years,” Stote said.

A division of the old bantam football league was once named after Mironowicz, along with De La Perralle and Bill Allan, the former North Shore and Alexander Park football icon.

Mironowicz is survived by his wife Jennifer and sons Tim and Scott.

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