Frederick Franklin Gilbert
| Frederick Franklin Gilbert | |
|---|---|
| Fred Gilbert | |
| Born | 1941-08-05 Toronto |
| Died | 2020-11-02 Midville Branch, Nova Scotia |
| Occupation | wildlife biologist and university president |
| Employer | Lakehead University |
| Partner | |
| Children | |
Frederick Franklin Gilbert (5 August 1941 – 2 November 2020 (aged 79)) was a Canadian wildlife biologist and university administrator who served as president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay until his retirement in 2010. He was known as Fred.[1]
Education and early career
Born in Toronto on 5 August 1941, Gilbert skipped two grades in school and entered the University of Toronto two years early, but left after spending more time on chess and sports than studies; he finished his degree at Acadia University, which he credited with giving him a second chance. With his first wife Shirley and their children Gaius and Cheryl he completed a master's degree and PhD at the University of Guelph, where he is credited with helping to choose the "Gryphons" name. He then became Big Game Leader for the state of Maine, with a joint appointment in forest resources at the University of Maine in Orono, where he helped start the university hockey team.[1]
Back at Guelph he became an assistant and later associate professor and worked on humane trapping research, a Canada-wide effort that produced humane trap standards which allowed Canada to keep trading furs with the European Union. Through that work he met his second wife Dan, who brought her sons Nicholas and Tobyn; the couple later served on national and international humane-trap standards committees.[1]
United States, British Columbia and Lakehead
In 1981 he moved to Washington State University in Pullman as a full professor and head of the wildlife biology program; he twice chaired the Faculty Senate and served as interim chair of natural resources, and co-authored the textbook The Philosophy and Practice of Wildlife Management (three editions) along with more than 60 refereed papers and chapters. In 1992 he became founding dean of the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, where he worked with the Tl'azt'en Nation to set up a research forest. He then took the post of Vice Provost Academic at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, arriving the day of the 1997 flash flood that inundated the library and being put in charge of its recovery.[1]
About a year later the family returned to Canada when Gilbert was hired as president of Lakehead University. His memorial lists achievements of his administration and its team: careful budgeting that paid for upkeep, beautification and equipment renewal; a revived university hockey team, the Thunderwolves, built on community support; the ATAC research and classroom building; a Cray computer; support for the student-built sports facility known as the Hangar and for a DNA laboratory; completion of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine together with Laurentian University; the Orillia campus; the purchase of a historic Thunder Bay high-school building as the future home of a law school; and growth in research that ranked the university first in its category in Canada. He also sat on the advisory committee of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and chaired the board of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.[1]
Retirement and death
After retiring in 2010 Gilbert ran for the provincial legislature as a self-described "Red Tory" and lost. He then began an organic farm in Nova Scotia with deer-fenced plots, a vineyard and bridges built over streams, selling produce at farmers' markets in Lunenburg and Bridgewater, and became active in the Acadia University alumni association, which later named a lecture series for him. A lifelong hockey player, he was still playing in March 2020, and he played basketball and softball too. He died by assisted death at home in Midville Branch, Nova Scotia, on 2 November 2020, with terminal pancreatic cancer and lymphoma.[1]
Family
Gilbert was survived by his wife of 39 years, Dan; their daughter Alyssa; his children Cheryl and Gaius; grandchildren Kinsey and Spencer; stepsons Nicholas and Tobyn; and his siblings Virginia, Merilynn and Ross. His sister Nancy died before him.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Entry for Frederick Franklin Gilbert, "In Memoriam", Retirees' Association of Lakehead University, https://www.lakeheadretirees.ca/in-memoriam/ (accessed 31 October 2026). Archived copy on datum.locker.