Józef Karol Puchalski (1862 - 15 September 1924) was a Polish local government politician who served as councillor of the Białystok City Council and later the first president of the city following the independence of Poland.
Biography.
He was born in the Hermanówka estate near Białystok. He was the co-founder of the Credit Society of the City of Białystok In 1904 he became a member of the Białystok City Council when the city was still part of the Russian Empire. Following the regaining of independence by Poland and the adjoining of Białystok to the newly formed Second Polish Republic, he became the first chairman of the temporary city committee Following the local elections held on September that year in which he ran on Polish Electoral Committee () list he became the first chairman of the Temporary Municipal Committee (de-facto mayor), holding this position for seven months. His tenure was characterized by enormous problems and he was often blamed as an indecisive politician acting on behalf of powerful influence groups. Following the local government election held in September that year, he was succeeded by Bolesław Szymański, yet he kept his position as a city councillor and concurrently served as vice-president until his death in 1924.
He was the owner of two tenement houses. He lived in a tenement house on Świętojańska Street. He died after long illness in 1924 and was buried in the Farny Cemetery in the city.
He was married to Stanisława who was deported to the Soviet Union and died in the Kazakh SSR and they had a son, Ryszard, who was murdered in Kozelsk in 1940.