Pierre Francis Camu, (March 19, 1923 – September 5, 2023) was a Canadian geographer, civil servant, academic, and transport executive.

Biography

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Camu received a Master of Arts degree in 1947 and a Ph.D. in

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

in 1951 from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

. From 1947 to 1949, he did his post-graduate studies at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. From 1949 to 1956, he worked with the geography branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys in Ottawa. From 1956 to 1960, he was a Professor of Economic Geography at

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

. In 1960, he became Vice-President of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority (now called Saint Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation) and was president from 1965 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977, he was president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. From 1977 to 1979, he was Chairman of the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC). From 1979 to 1984, he was president of March Shipping Company. From 1984 to 1988, he was a vice-president at Lavalin Inc. (now SNC Lavalin). From 1988 to 1992, he was Chairman of the Petroleum Monitoring Agency. In 1966, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. In 1976, he was made an Officer of 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 ...

. In 1998, he was made a Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

. In 1999, he was awarded the Camsell Medal by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Camu died on September 5, 2023, at the age of 100.

References

Sources

Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry

Royal Canadian Geographical Society Camsell Medal winners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camu, Pierre 1923 births 2023 deaths Canadian geographers Chairpersons of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Knights of the National Order of Quebec Officers of the Order of Canada Academics from Montreal Université de Montréal alumni Academic staff of Université Laval Massey Medal recipients Johns Hopkins University alumni Canadian expatriate academics in the United States Canadian men centenarians Presidents of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Economic geographers