News came today from Jan’s daughter, Victoria Phillips, that Jan passed away on Sunday 28th June 2026.
Victoria sent this message:
“Jan Karalus passed away peacefully at home in the early hours of Sunday 28th June 2026 with family by his side. Jan was born on 7th June 1939 and had recently celebrated his 87th birthday. A Land Surveyor with Fairey Surveys from 1961, he remained with the company for many years and always remembered his Fairey colleagues and projects with great fondness. Jan’s funeral has been arranged for 10:45am on Friday 17th July 2026 at Reading Crematorium, All Hallows Road, Caversham, Reading, RG4 5LP. The funeral will be followed by refreshments at The Crown, Playhatch, Reading, RG4 9QN.”
Jan’s family would very much appreciate seeing Jan’s old friends and colleagues there.
Jan Karalus: 2026 and 1975
Thank you for your kind words about Dad. We really do appreciate it and we look forward to meeting many of you at the funeral on Friday. For those that aren’t able to make it in person, I am attaching the live-stream details below.
https://watch.obitus.com
Username: woxe2487
Password/PIN: 648434
It is with much sadness that I received the news of Jan’s death. I knew him when I worked for Clyde Surveys in the 1980’s. I had great respect for him and have many fond memories of those times. Regrettably, I will be unable to attend the funeral but send my condolences to his family and friends.
A tribute received via the website email from James Kavanagh of the RICS:
“I was saddened to learn of the recent death of Jan Karalus, he was a real land survey legend and was held in great esteem with the land survey division of RICS. We still retain a lot of his writing on his time with DoS (the overseas colonial/post colonial surveying and mapping dept that in many ways paved the way for Faireys etc).”
I am so sorry to hear of Jan’s passing. Please could you pass on my condolences to his family. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend his funeral, because I will be visiting family overseas at that time.
I first met Jan when he (and I) was thrown very much into the deep end when the original directors of Clyde Surveying Services (CSSL) left the company within six months of each other in the mid 1980s, leaving the company leaderless.
CSSL had been formed as an offshoot of Clyde Surveys, specialising in ground surveys, high precision surveys, including dimensional control of oil rig components and photogrammetric ground control for the parent company. The directors had purchased an off-the-shelf mapping system called Geomap, comprising state-of-the-art data processing and graphics, and a large format precise plotter. The cost was eye-watering and only one other Geomap was sold in the UK. We realised that there were possibilities for producing data which could be delivered on punched tape, or what were then floppy discs, and read directly into engineering and architectural design programs. With Peter Timbrell’s help we able to do this effectively. We were several years ahead of the competition, but also the market.
The departure of the previous directors and Jan’s arrival coincided with a drought of enquiries and opportunities, but one that did arise was an internal measured building survey of Heathrow Terminal 3. We had some experience, but on much smaller projects. After much hand-wringing, we submitted a tender and won the job. It turned out to be a complete nightmare, for which I as project manager was overwhelmed and utterly to blame. Jan was forever fire-fighting and without him, things would have been even worse.
I will always be grateful for Jan’s solid surveying knowledge and wisdom, his thoroughness, his sense of humour – especially in the face of adversity, and above all, his patience and loyalty to the surveyors.
I can’t be with you on 17th, but will remember Jan with great fondness and respect, along with his geniality over a glass of dry white wine, and his vast array of stories from the field.