Richard Heath Rohmer (born January 24, 1924) is a Canadian aviator, lawyer, adviser, author and historian. Rohmer was born 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 ...

, and spent some of his early youth in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, as well as in western Ontario at

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

and

Fort Erie Fort Erie is a town in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada. The town is located at the south eastern corner of the region, on the Niagara River, directly across the Canada–United States border from Buffalo, New York, and is the site of ...

. The ''

Peterborough Examiner ''The Peterborough Examiner'' is a newspaper that services Peterborough, Ontario and area. The paper started circulation in 1847, and is currently owned by Torstar and operated by its Metroland division. Between 1942 and 1955, it was edited by C ...

's'' lead editorial of January 14, 2009 describes Rohmer as "one of Canada's most colourful figures of the past half-century". General Rohmer served as honorary advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces from 2014 to 2017. He was the advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs for the organization and conduct of Canada's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day celebrations in Normandy in June 2014 and the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands in May 2015. He is a veteran of

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...

and the

Liberation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces ...

Military career

After high school, Rohmer worked briefly at Fleet Aerospace. He then left Fleet on his 18th birthday to join the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

(RCAF). In Europe in 1943–44 as a reconnaissance pilot flying

North American Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed ...

fighters, he completed a 135-mission tour of operations at the end of November 1944 in the Netherlands. On July 17, 1944, he had spotted a fast-moving staff car, usually used to carry German officers. According to Rohmer, the German officer being carried was Field Marshal

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...

. Rohmer reported the car's location to Group Control Centre, which sent in a

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

piloted by Canadian Charley Fox. Rohmer took part in

and the Battles of Normandy, Belgium and the Netherlands. He is now the senior surviving Canadian veteran of all of those battles. In 1945, he was demobilized and transferred to the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve (RCN(R)), where he was appointed as a lieutenant (P) RCN(R) with seniority. He served at HMCS ''Hunter'' in

, Ontario, as commanding officer University Naval Training Division (UNTD) from 1946 until he retired in 1948. In 1950, he returned to the RCAF (Reserve), flying

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

jets and commanding 400 Squadron (City of Toronto) and 411 Squadron (County of York). He retired in 1953 as a wing commander. In 1971, he was appointed honorary Lieutenant-Colonel (and later Honorary Colonel) of 411 Air Reserve Squadron. In April 1975, he was promoted to brigadier-general and appointed Senior Air Reserve Advisor. On April 1, 1976, he was appointed commander of the newly formed Air Reserve Group. On January 31, 1978, he was promoted to the rank of major-general and appointed Chief of Reserves. He was appointed a commander of the Order of Military Merit in December 1978 and left the military in January 1981. On December 22, 2014, Major-General (Retired) Rohmer was named honorary advisor to the Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, a three-year appointment "...created to recognize MGen (Ret’d) Rohmer’s contributions to the Canadian Armed Forces, and the unique advice and guidance that he provides to the Chief of the Defence Staff, drawing from his wealth of experience in service to Canada". On June 26, 2015, in his capacity as honorary advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rohmer was promoted to the rank of Honorary

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

by the outgoing and incoming Chiefs of the Defence Staff.

Political career

From 1957 to 1959, Rohmer was a councillor on

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

township council representing Ward 1, the township's easternmost district, which included

Don Mills Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to be a self-supporting "new town" and was at the time located outside Toronto proper in the suburb of North York. Consisting of residenti ...

, where his family had lived since 1954. In 1958, he unsuccessfully challenged

Hollis Beckett Hollis Edward Beckett (June 22, 1896 – October 22, 1976) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the riding of York East from 1951 to 1967. Bac ...

, the incumbent Progressive Conservative MPP in the riding of York East, for the Conservative nomination for the

1959 Ontario general election The 1959 Ontario general election was held on June 11, 1959, to elect the 98 members of the 26th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Part ...

. In the 1960s, he supported

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

's successful candidacy to lead the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and then served as a senior advisor and legal counsel to

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Robarts for three years. He and Robarts conceived the idea, adopted by the provincial legislature in 1965, that the province adopt a provincial flag modelled on the

red ensign The Red Ensign or Red Duster is the civil ensign of the United Kingdom. It is one of the British ensigns, and it is used either plain or defacement (flag), defaced with either a Glossary of vexillology#Flag elements, badge or a Glossary of v ...

. The move was in response to the

Great Canadian flag debate The Great Canadian flag debate (or Great Flag Debate) was a national debate that took place in 1963 and 1964 when a new design for the national flag of Canada was chosen. Although the flag debate had been going on for a long time prior, it off ...

in which the federal government decided to drop the

Canadian Red Ensign The Canadian Red Ensign () served as a nautical flag and civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965, and later as the ''de facto'' flag of Canada before 1965. The flag is a British Red Ensign, with the Royal Union Flag in the canton (flag), canto ...

in favour of the maple leaf flag. Rohmer is a

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

Mid-Canada Corridor

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rohmer promoted a plan for a megaproject to develop and populate the Canadian sub-Arctic which he called the " Mid-Canada Corridor". While the plan interested some industrialists, CEOs, bankers, and the railways, it failed to win support from the Canadian government.

Legal career

Rohmer, who completed his legal studies at

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

, was called to the Bar in 1951, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1960. He remains a name partner at the firm of Rohmer & Fenn LLP but has retired from the practice of law. During his law practice he was counsel before several administrative tribunals in land use and transportation. His major official plan change success occurred in 1972 when as counsel for

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

and

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

and their subsidiaries he appeared before the

Ontario Municipal Board The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters s ...

in a six-week contested hearing that resulted in the change of the official plan for all of the railway use lands around

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

from

Yonge Street Yonge Street ( ') is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...

to Bathurst Street (185 acres) to a high density mix of residential, commercial, entertainment, hotels, sport centres and other uses including construction of the

CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...

. That official plan is the basis for years of enormous development on the lands - lands then and now worth billions of dollars. It was the largest official plan change in the history of Canada. He practiced aviation litigation with the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn.

Literary activities

Two of Rohmer's better-known novels are ''Ultimatum'' and ''Separation''. ''Ultimatum'', published in 1973, features political, economic, and

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...

themes as well as the author's opinion about the viability of the Canadian nation. It is Rohmer's most popular novel and it was the best-selling novel in Canada in 1973. Three years later, Rohmer published ''Separation'', a novel with domestic and international political themes surrounding the ambition of Quebec separatists to establish the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

as a separate nation. It stayed on the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

's best-seller list for 22 weeks. ''Separation'' was made into a television movie in 1977, and aired on the CTV network.

Barry Morse Herbert "Barry" Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008) was a British-Canadian actor, writer, and director. He was known for playing Lt. Philip Gerard, the principal antagonist of the American television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–67), as ...

was cast for a brief appearance as the British prime minister. He is a well known Canadian author of both fiction and non-fiction. Throughout his literary career he has published over thirty books. His most recent non-fiction is ''The Building of the

'' published 2011 by RailCore Press Inc. of which he is president. His most recent novel, ''Ultimatum 2'' was published early 2007. It fictionalizes a confrontation between the US and Russia against Canada over the building of an international high level nuclear waste disposal site in Arctic Canada. The second edition of his historical novel on the 1866–67 Canadian negotiations with the British for autonomy under the British North American Act is ''Sir John A's Crusade and Seward's Magnificent Folly.'' Rohmer chaired the Ontario

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

on Book Publishing (1971–72).

Volunteer work

He was twice chancellor of the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

, serving a total of 13 years. In 1978, he negotiated the donation of

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster. Black's father was businessma ...

's collection of

Duplessis Duplessis may refer to: * Duplessis (surname) ** Maurice Duplessis (1890–1959), the 16th premier of Quebec *** ''Duplessis'' (TV series), a historical television series about Maurice Duplessis that aired in Québec in 1978 *** Duplessis Orph ...

papers in exchange for an honorary degree. He was a charter member of his local (Don Mills) Civitan club, and he served as treasurer of the international organization. His position allowed him to meet U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

to present Civitan's World Citizenship Award. He was chairman of the 60th anniversary of D-Day celebrations that took place in the presence of the

Queen of Canada The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Wes ...

at Juno Beach in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

on June 6, 2004. As ministerial advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs he took part in the planning, preparation and execution of the government's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day at

Juno Beach Juno and or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allies (World War II), Allied invasion of German occupation of France during World War II, German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the World War II, Second Wo ...

, France, on June 6, 2014, and was similarly engaged in the plans for the in-Netherlands Canadian celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands on May 5, 2015. He is now one of the very few surviving Canadian veterans of both of those Battles (Normandy and the Netherlands). He co-chaired the Ontario advisory committee that created the veterans' memorial unveiled on September 17, 2006 in front of the provincial legislature at Queen's Park, was chair of the Premier's Ceremonial Advisory Committee (2006-2014), and was a ten-year member of the advisory council of the Order of Ontario. Rohmer currently holds the following honorary positions: honorary deputy commissioner of the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the State police, provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols Provincial highways in Ontario, provincial highways and waterways; protects Government of Ontario, provincial government buil ...

; honorary chief of

Toronto Paramedic Services The City of Toronto Paramedic Services (TPS; formerly known as Toronto Emergency Medical Services) is the statutory emergency medical services provider in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The service is operated as a division of the City of Toronto, unde ...

; patron of the Toronto St. John's Ambulance (1978–2007), honorary fire chief of

Collingwood, Ontario Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay. Collingwood is well known as a tourist destination, for its skiing in the winter, and limestone caves along the Nia ...

, and honorary chief of the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...

. He is also the original honorary Chief of Paramedics in Ontario, and from 1978 until 2007 was patron of the Toronto division of St. John's Ambulance.

Personal life

His wife of 70 years, Mary Olivia (nicknamed Mary-O), died in January 2020. He has two daughters:

Ann Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in ...

, a TV personality, and Catherine, a lawyer. He is a licensed pilot. Rohmer

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

on January 24, 2024, and resides in the veterans' wing of

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), commonly known as Sunnybrook Hospital or simply Sunnybrook, is an academic health science centre located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hospital is the largest trauma centre in Canada. It is accredite ...

in Toronto.

Bibliography

* ''Practice and Procedure Before the Highway Transport Board'' (1965) * ''The Green North: Mid-Canada'' (1970) * ''The Royal Commission on Book Publishing'' (Chair, 1972) * ''The Arctic Imperative'' (1973) Toronto, McClelland and Stewart * ''Ultimatum'' (1973) Toronto, Clarke, Irwin * ''Exxoneration'' (1974) * ''Exodus UK'' (1975) Toronto : McClelland and Stewart * ''Separation'' (1976) McClelland and Stewart * ''Balls!'' (1980) * ''Periscope Red'' (1980) * ''Poems by Arthur Henry Ward'' (1980) * ''Separation two'' (1981) * ''Pattons Gap'' (1981) New York : Beaufort Books * ''Triad'' (1982) * ''Retaliation'' (1982) * ''Massacre 747'' (1984) * ''Rommel and Patton'' (1986) * ''Starmageddon'' (1986) * ''Hour of the Fox'' (1988) * ''Red Arctic'' (1989) * ''John A.'s Crusade'' (1995) * ''Death by Deficit'' (1996) * ''Caged Eagle'' (2002) * ''Raleigh on the Rocks'' (2002) * ''Generally Speaking'' (autobiography, 2004) Toronto, Dundurn Group * ''Ultimatum 2'' (2007) Toronto, Dundurn * ''Building of the CN Tower'' (2011) * ''Building of the Sky Dome/Rogers Centre'' (2012) * ''Sir John A's Crusade and Seward's Magnificent Folly'' (2013) * ''Canada's Arctic: Moscow's Next Ukraine'' (2023)

Honours

* Appointed as a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(QC) in 1960. * Honorary Chief of Toronto Police Service (TPS) on March 26, 2015 * Named as "The Most Interesting Canadian" by the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

Honorary degrees

Richard Rohmer has received many

honorary degrees An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

in recognition of his service to Canada, these include:

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohmer, Richard 1924 births Living people Canadian historical novelists Canadian King's Counsel Canadian male biographers Canadian monarchists Canadian political consultants Canadian speculative fiction writers Canadian World War II pilots Canadian Forces Air Command generals Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Reconnaissance pilots Chancellors by university and college in Canada Lawyers in Ontario Ontario municipal councillors Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Canadian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Commanders of the Order of Military Merit (Canada) Knights of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Order of St John Officers of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Canadian expatriates in the United States 20th-century Canadian biographers 20th-century Canadian historians 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian biographers 21st-century Canadian historians 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian men centenarians Novelists from Ontario