James George (September 14, 1918 – February 7, 2020) was a Canadian diplomat, political and environmental activist, author, and "spiritual seeker." A founder of the Threshold Foundation and president of the Sadat Peace Foundation, he led the

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split wi ...

international mission to Kuwait and the Persian Gulf to assess post-war environmental damage.

Early life

George was born in September 1918 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He received a Littauer Fellowship to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, and was a 1940

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

for

, studying at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

, Trinity College, and

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters by Trinity College, University of Toronto, at its May 2008 Convocation. While a student at the University of Toronto, he was a member of the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Delt, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in C ...

fraternity.

Career

George served in the

Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve The Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) was a naval reserve force of the Royal Canadian Navy, which replaced the Royal Navy Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR). Foundation The RCNVR was created in 1923. The organization was established ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, attaining to the rank of Lt. Commander, following which he represented Canada at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

. Between 1955 and 1957 he was deputy director at the Intelligence division at the External affairs in Ottawa. He was later the Canadian deputy permanent representative at

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

in Paris from 1957 and 1960. Another Canadian working at the same time at NATO was

Hugh Hambleton Hugh George Hambleton (1922–1995) was a Canadian and British economist and a spy in the service of the Soviet Union. Biography Hambleton was born in Canada to an English father and he held dual citizenship, Canadian and British.Richard C. S. T ...

, later revealed to have been working as a spy for the Soviet Union. George then served as High Commissioner of Canada to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(Ceylon) 1960–64, then in Paris at the Canadian embassy, High Commissioner to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

1967–72, and Ambassador to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and the Gulf States 1972–77.

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Commonwealth secretary-general is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly. The Commo ...

Arnold Smith credited George with helping to contain the conflict between India and Pakistan in 1971, when

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

became

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. Retiring from diplomatic service in 1977, George turned his attention to ecological and spiritual issues full time. While directing Threshold Foundation he helped to found in London (1978–82), he played a leading role in the adoption by the

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...

of a moratorium on high seas whaling and to ban all whaling in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

and the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and othe ...

. In 1984, he co-founded the Anwar Sadat Peace Foundation to promote peace in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, and the following year was a founder of the

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gr ...

. More recently, he has worked to develop wind power resources in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, and has been helping to develop new technology to make the

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Salt ...

of seawater more affordable. His publisher's bio describes George as "first and foremost a spiritual seeker." During his years of diplomatic service, he met numerous spiritual thinking and teachers, including Krishnamurti,

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and g ...

Yogaswami Jnana guru Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna ( ta, சிவயோகசுவாமி, si, යොගස්වාමි; 1872–1964) was a 20th-century spiritual master, a ''śivajnani'' and a''natha siddhar'' revered by Hindus, however he had a ...

of Sri Lanka, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Dudjom Rinpoche, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Across six decades he has been a devoted practitioner of the Gurdjieff Work, and was a close disciple of the late Madame de Salzmann, G.I. Gurdjieff's primary student. In 1968, he wrote a letter of recommendation for Yogi Bhajan on the occasion of his commencing his teaching mission in the West.

Personal life

George was twice married, first to Caroline Parfitt, 1942–96, with whom he had three children: Daniel, Graham (died 2003) and Caroline Randolph (Dolphi). He married Barbara Brady Wright in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

on 1 January 2005, at the age of 86. In September 2007, CBC aired a short documentary about him titled "In the Spirit of Diplomacy," by independent film-maker Marco Mascarin. This piece used elements of a 1975 documentary by

Paul Saltzman Paul Saltzman (born 1943) is a Canadian film and television producer and director. A two-time Emmy Award-recipient, he has been credited on more than 300 films, both dramas and documentaries. The 2008 documentary feature, '' Prom Night in Mississ ...

entitled "Saint Demetrius Rides a Red Horse: James George Leaves India." George turned 100 in September 2018 and died in February 2020 at the age of 101.Remembering Ambassador James George, 1918-2020
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Publications

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References

External links

THE SPIRITUAL DIPLOMAT
short documentary profile of James George at age 94 {{DEFAULTSORT:George, James 1918 births 2020 deaths Ambassadors of Canada to Iran Ambassadors of Canada to Kuwait Ambassadors of Canada to Nepal Ambassadors of Canada to Oman Ambassadors of Canada to Qatar Canadian centenarians Military personnel from Toronto Canadian Rhodes Scholars High Commissioners of Canada to India High Commissioners of Canada to Sri Lanka Men centenarians Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II Royal Canadian Navy officers Canadian expatriates in the United States Harvard University alumni Students of George Gurdjieff