Joseph Gerald Hagey (September 28, 1904 – October 26, 1988) was a Canadian businessman, academic, and a founder and first president of the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto, but it is n ...

Biography

Hagey was born and raised in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, the son of Menno Hagey (1863-1946) and Esther Cornell (1861-1907). In 1928 he received a B.A. from

Waterloo College Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

, at that time a small church college affiliated with the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. After graduation, he took a job in sales for B.F. Goodrich, a Kitchener-based rubber company. By the 1950s he had become an advertising and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

manager, though throughout this time he had continued to be involved in the affairs of his ''alma mater'', Waterloo College. In 1953 he left B.F. Goodrich to become the president of Waterloo College. The 1950s and 1960s saw a massive expansion in industry and academia because of the postwar economic boom and because of the impending arrival of the

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of births. This demography, demographic phenomenon is usually an ascribed characteristic within the population of a specific nationality, nation or culture. Baby booms are caused by various ...

ers at Canadian universities. Hagey's goal was the transformation of Waterloo College into a university with a particular focus on science and technology, and close links with industry through

co-operative education Cooperative education (or co-operative education) is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op" or work-study program, provides a ...

. This idea proved somewhat controversial, and Hagey ultimately became the founding president of the

in 1957, when the science and engineering faculties he had established broke away from the rest of Waterloo College, which later became

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

. He retired in 1969 after the removal of his larynx due to cancer. When Hagey retired he had helped the University of Waterloo grow from 75 students in two portable

classroom A classroom, schoolroom or lecture room is a learning space in which both children and adults learn. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, ranging from preschools to universities, and may also be found in other place ...

s to a rambling

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

worth $80 million and a

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 9,000. A building on the UW campus, the J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, is named in his honour. In 1967 he received an honorary doctorate from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...

, which later became

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. In April 1986, he was invested as a member into the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. Hagey was the great-grandson of Mennonite Bishop Joseph B. Hagey and the cousin of Brantford MPP Louis Hagey.

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External links

Dr. J.G. Hagey - President 1958-1969
1904 births 1988 deaths Canadian people of American descent Canadian people of German descent Presidents of the University of Waterloo Members of the Order of Canada Businesspeople from Waterloo, Ontario Academics from Hamilton, Ontario Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni {{Canada-academic-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links