PRITAM SINGH was born in 1937 in the city of Lahore, Punjab (currently in Pakistan). At the age of 10, his family moved to Simla and then to Amritsar (Punjab) due to the partition of India in 1947. He pursued his studies in Simla and then in Amritsar. He completed his B.Sc. (Hons.) and MSc.(Hons) degrees in Khalsa College, Amritsar, where the Punjab University Department of Botany was located for a few years. In 1958, he was selected and was offered a Scholar ship at the newly opened graduate school based on the American system of education at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi. He completed his PhD. in Plant Pathology at this place in 1962.
Later he secured a teaching position in Delhi University and worked as a Lecturer for about a year and 4 months. Then he returned to I.A.R.I. and worked as a Scientist (Researcher cum Lecturer) in the Pool Officer category for one year. In 1965 he secured a Post Doctoral Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin (Madison campus), U.S.A., where he worked on White Pine disease till November 1967
When he got the offer of a job from Canadian Forestry Service, at one of the six regional laboratories, located in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He worked at this Research Center from November 1965 to August 1983. During this period of 16 years, he became a Senior Scientist with the Canadian Forestry Service at the Newfoundland Forest Research Centre as well as an Adjunct Professor with the Memorial University of Newfoundland, involving him with the teaching of a course in Forest Tree Pathology and guiding research projects for Masters and Post-Doctoral program in tree diseases.
In 1983, he was offered a position of an adviser at the headquarters of the Canadian Forestry Service, which he joined in August 1983. In this position, he continued his advisory role in the development and management of various research programs and coordination of the scientific activities with various regions of the country, but also advanced our research abilities in several other European, African and South American countries.
He published two books , co edited a book on Forest tree Monographs, over 300 research papers and scientific articles on Forest Tree Diseases and their management. He also did consulting work on Forest Tree Disease problems and their impact on our environment for F.A.O. and World Bank, Pakistan, Brazil, Denmark, U.S.A, Norway and Burkina Faso.
Due to his underlying health problems since 1983, he took early retirement in 1997 and settled in Ottawa. These days he is enjoying his quiet but very happy life senior years living with his wife in Orleans. He keeps busy and enjoy reading which has been his hobby for decades. He enjoys studies on various religions, history and scientific researches on sky and planets. He loves to watch documentaries on science, planets, nature and environment.
Usually immigrants experience difficulties in a new countries, but he was lucky to be offered progressive opportunities as the time progressed.