Helga Reidel

Helga Reidel died on 5 November 2026, at the age of 66, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Her family thanked the staff of the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre for her care. Her death was announced in a family obituary in the Windsor Star on 6 November and reported by local media the following day.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens paid tribute on social media, calling her "one of our community's true champions" and noting that she had been the first female CAO for Windsor and the first female CEO for Enwin. Visitation was arranged at Victoria Greenlawn Funeral Home in Oldcastle, Ontario, on 10 and 11 November 2026. The family asked that donations in her memory go to the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation or Pancreatic Cancer Canada.

Helga Elizabeth Reidel was born Helga Schumacher in Leamington, Ontario, in 1960, the daughter of Helmut and Elizabeth Schumacher. She was raised in Windsor and had a brother, Randy.

She studied at the University of Windsor, the institution whose Board of Governors she would later chair, and went on to qualify as a chartered accountant. Her family wrote that she was proud of the designation and that it led to many interesting jobs. She later held the professional fellowships FCPA and FCA.

Reidel built her career in finance and public administration in Windsor. She served as the City of Windsor's treasurer before council appointed her chief administrative officer in September 2009, when she was 48, succeeding John Skorobohacz. She was the first woman to hold the city's top administrative post. At the time she was not a household name, and a front page Windsor Star story asked, "Who is Helga Reidel?" She once told reporters that her typical working day ran from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

She led the city administration through the turbulent years that followed the recession until 2016, when she became president and chief executive of Enwin Utilities, the city owned provider of electricity and water services. She was the first woman to lead the company. Highlights of her six years there included the preparation of Enwin's 2019 rate application to the Ontario Energy Board and the utility's work on energy and water infrastructure for the Gordie Howe International Bridge. She retired at the end of 2022 and was succeeded by Gary Rossi.

Reidel also took on extensive board work. She chaired the University of Windsor Board of Governors and sat on the boards of Hydro One, Corby Spirit and Wine and the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority, the federal Crown corporation responsible for the new crossing between Windsor and Detroit, as well as a number of volunteer boards.

Reidel was married to Rolf Reidel for 43 years. They had three sons, Eric, Alexander and Evan, and five grandchildren. Her family wrote that none of her professional roles was more important to her than being a wife, a mother and an Oma, and that nothing gave her more pride than her sons' successes. On retiring from Enwin she said she looked forward to travelling with her husband and spending more time with her grandchildren.

Reidel is remembered as a pioneer for women in municipal leadership in Windsor, holding the city's top administrative job and then leading its utility as the first woman in each role. Her career touched public finance, governance, education, economic development and cross border transportation and trade. In 2026, months before her death, Windsor City Council named a boardroom at City Hall in her honour in recognition of more than three decades of service to the community.