Hans Willer

Dr. Hans Willer Laale, PhD, was born on April 20, 1935, in Taarbaek, a town situated north of Copenhagen, Denmark. He completed his secondary education at Torben Brex Boarding School in 1949 before embarking on a seafaring career. As a sailor on the Skoleskibet “Denmark,” he traveled to various parts of Africa during his teenage years, and he made his first journey to Canada in 1953.

In 1956, Hans moved to the United States to pursue higher education at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1959. Shortly thereafter, he relocated to Canada to begin graduate studies at the University of Western Ontario. He received his master’s degree in 1961 and continued on to the University of Toronto, where he completed his PhD in Embryology in 1966. That same year, he began his tenure as a professor at the University of Manitoba, where he dedicated 30 years to academia and published significant research, garnering 18 citations and 56 reads.

Dr. Laale also served as a visiting scholar in the Far East, with appointments at Hong Kong Baptist College, Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Tunghai University in Taiwan. In addition to his academic achievements, he authored three notable books: "Once They Were Brave" (2007), "Ephesus: An Abbreviated History from Androclus to Constantine XI" (2011), and "The Seed, the Covenants and the Prophecies" (2017). After retiring in January 1997, Dr. Laale continued to contribute to the literary world and appeared on "The Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club" in 2013. His Chinese name, 羅漢思, bestowed by Johnny Tan, became a cherished symbol of his cross-cultural journey.