Colin MacKay
University president 'found his calling'
By ALLISON LAWLOR
Special to The Globe and Mail
Monday, Dec. 22, 2003
HALIFAX -- Colin Mackay, who at the strikingly young age of 33 was appointed president of the University of New Brunswick, becoming the youngest university president in Canada at that time, has died. He was 83.
During his 16 years as president beginning in 1953, Mr. Mackay transformed the institution from a small, provincial college into a university with a well-respected, national profile. Under his leadership, enrolment jumped 525 per cent, from 767 students to 4,792, the faculty increased from 70 to 318 and the university's budget grew from less than $1-million to $13-million.
"He found his calling," said James Downey, who served as the university's president during the 1980s.
Just a few years out of law school, with no academic or administrative experience, Mr. Mackay took the helm at the University of New Brunswick after Mary Louise Lynch, Lord Beaverbrook's legal counsel in New Brunswick, wrote to Lord Beaverbrook, who was then the university's chancellor, that a certain young lawyer she was acquainted with would make a fine new president for the university, Mr. Downey said.
When the university's senate unanimously rejected the choice, Lord Beaverbrook resigned as chancellor, prompting the university to immediately hire Mr. Mackay. His first job was to draft an act of the legislature declaring the Ontario-born Lord Beaverbrook as "honorary life chancellor" of the university and "a native son of New Brunswick."
Working with the notoriously mercurial Lord Beaverbrook wasn't always easy for the young university president. By his own reckoning, Mr. Mackay would lose 5 kilograms during Lord Beaverbrook's visits. But together they made a great team, and the university was the beneficiary of their combined foresight and energy, Mr. Downey said.
"He was an extraordinarily energetic person," Gordon Fairweather, the first chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, said of his long-time friend. "He was a restless, energetic man."
Colin Bridges Mackay was born on July 26, 1920, in Rothesay, N.B., not far from Saint John. His father Colin Mackay was a respected lumber merchant. But it was on his mother Jeanette's side of the family where the long history with the University of New Brunswick can be traced. His mother's father was a professor of classics at the university and his mother was born in the institution's old arts building.
After graduating from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in history, Mr. Mackay served during the Second World War in the Royal Canadian Navy and was attached to the Royal Navy. He commanded landing craft during the Normandy Invasion, and later served in the Far East.
When the war ended, Mr. Mackay returned to school and graduated in 1949 from the University of British Columbia with a law degree. He spent a brief period practising law before joining the University of New Brunswick. During his university presidency, Mr. Mackay also served as one of 12 people from across the country who in 1958 were the first appointed part-time members of the Board of Broadcast Governors, which replaced the CBC as the regulator of all broadcasting in Canada.
Not someone to cloister himself away in his office, Mr. Mackay, a tall and handsome man, could be seen around the university campus talking to everyone from the grounds keepers to the new students. During his presidency, the rumour circulating was that he knew every student by name.
"There was nothing reticent about Colin," Mr. Downey said. "He had a booming voice. You could hear him coming from miles away."
Mr. Mackay was also said to know everything that was going on within the university's buildings so much so that one rumour was that not a lock was changed on a door without his previous knowledge. A bachelor during his presidency, some said he was married to his job. He did however, marry later in life, in 1980, to Mary Ives Anglin.
"He was a bit of a micro-manager when he was there," Mr. Downey said. "Colin wasn't always easy to deal with."
By his own admission, Mr. Mackay probably stayed on in office a few years too long. When protests broke out on university campuses across the country, including his own, in the late 1960s, Mr. Mackay found himself lacking the same energy he would have had a decade earlier to deal with the upheaval.
Not long after leaving the university in 1969, Mr. Mackay was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to live. He defied his doctor's diagnosis and went onto become executive director of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in 1971, holding that position for four years.
He later served on several Canadian delegations to the United Nations and worked as an adviser to the Canadian International Development Agency. He was closely involved with the development of a number of universities in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Kenya. Over the years, he made as many as 30 trips to Africa, sending post cards filled with fascinating stories home to relatives. Known for his quick mind and endless energy, Mr. Mackay could frequently be spotted riding his motor scooter to his camp on the St. John River. There he enjoyed entertaining family and took great pleasure in teaching the younger generations about the long, proud history of their ancestors in the Maritimes.
At the camp, he had a large collection of art and beautiful antiques alongside the latest gadgets. He enjoyed boating and had a number of canoes and sailboats, each with its own name. He had a wonderful collection of flags to show for his years of travel. Nearly every country, state and province in the world was represented in the collection.
Throughout his life, Mr. Mackay kept a special place for the University of New Brunswick. He remained involved in the life of the university and maintained an office on the Saint John campus.
The recipient of countless awards, including being named an Officer of the Order of Canada, Mr. Mackay also held honorary degrees from 13 universities.
"The brain never stopped thinking and the body never stopped moving," said his niece Mary Clifford.
Mr. Mackay died on Nov. 27 at the Saint John Regional Hospital after having suffered over the past few years from several ailments, Ms. Clifford said. Mr. Mackay leaves his sister, Janet Hart, and several cousins, nephews and nieces. His wife died in November, 2001.
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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