Ian Edward MCPHERSON

OBITUARY IAN EDWARD McPHERSON D.F.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B., LL.M., C.L.J. died on Saturday November 5th, 2005 at Royal Jubilee Hospital. He was born in Victoria, B.C. on June 8th, 1920, the son of the late Dr. and Mrs. Thomas McPherson. He served as a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1945 in Training Command and Bomber Command, flying Avro Lancasters with 12 Squadron out of Wickenby, England. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he attended the University of British Columbia where he received a Bachelor degree in Law. After practicing Law at Clerihue & Gregory in Victoria he graduated from the first class of The Institute of International Air Law at McGill University where he received a Masters degree in Aerospace Law in 1952. He then joined the law department of Canadian National Railways as Assistant Solicitor. He transferred to Trans-Canada Airlines in 1959, retiring as Vice President Law of Air Canada in 1983. He then served as Alderman to the City of Westmount in Montreal Quebec, his home for thirty-three years. He moved to Vancouver in 1985 to be Coordinator of Official Visits of Expo 86, after which he retired to Victoria B.C. He was a Governor and Vice Chairman of the Board of Shawnigan Lake School which he had attended for four years from 1935 to 1939. He was a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, Past Chairman of the Canadian Bar Association, and Past Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Branch of the International Law Association. He was Past President, Vice President and Emeritus Member of the Association of Canadian General Counsel. He was also Past Chairman of the Legal Committee of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Past Member of the Law Council, Air Transport Association of America, Washington, D.C. He was Past Director of the Victoria Foundation. He was Knight Commander of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem in the Bailiwick of British Columbia, and an Honorary Kentucky Colonel. He is survived by his wife of forty-five years the former Mary Pitts, his daughter Margot McPherson and her husband Aristides Balanos, his sons Ian Andrew McPherson and Thomas Alexander Gordon McPherson. A Memorial Service will be held at Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church, corner Douglas Street and Broughton, on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Victoria Foundation. Published in the Montreal Gazette from 11/8/2005 - 11/12/2005