Few university presidents could be considered 'to the mannerborn.' Larry MacKenzie was the exception. He discovered this talentwhen president of the University of New Brunswick from 1940 to 1944. Hebecame president of the University of British Columbia in 1944 andserved for eighteen years. Although UBC's present eminence owesmuch to many people, as biographer P.B. Waite points out, 'it isbasically Larry MacKenzie's creation.'
His importance to UBC is inestimable. No doubt demography aloneenjoined UBC's considerable expansion, but Larry gave it force andfocus. He established the Faculty of Graduate Studies and introducedprofessional faculties such as law and medicine. He was a marvellousdoer; but more important, he could recognize talent in others, like his'chief expediter,' Gordon Shrum, UBC's redoubtable head ofphysics and dean of graduate studies.
Larry's big archive at UBC has enabled Waite to essay the lifeof a marvellously adept and humane president who loved his work and hisstudents, a vital and great-hearted Canadian who had lived and worked,as one could say, a mari usque ad mare.
An affectionate portrait of a president who was considerably more complex than his public persona.
Peter Waite brought humane sympathy, literary skills, and rigorous scholarship to this lucid biography. He makes it difficult for the reader not to share his respect and affection for Larry MacKenzie.
Indispensable reading for all who care about UBC, not only as an account of MacKenzie's life but also as a vivacious history of the period on the Point Grey campus. The facts and figures are all there, but so is the fun.
Illustrations
Preface
1. Growing Up, 1894-1913
2. Dalhousie and the First World War, 1913-1919
3. Returning Veteran, the S.C.M., and Harvard, 1919-1924
4. St. John's, Cambridge and Geneva, 1924-1926
5. To the University of Toronto, 1926-1930
6. Professor of International Law, 1930-1939
7. President of the University of New Brunswick, 1940-1944
8. Coming to the University of British Columbia, 1944
9. U.B.C.: the Years of Expansion, 1945-1948
10. Consolidation and the Massey Commission, 1949-1952
11. Lord of Point Grey, 1953-1959
12. Not Going Gently, 1959-1962
13. Elder Statesman of Canada and Academe, 1963-1986
14. A Greatness of Spirit
Notes
Index
