| HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | John Edward (Jack) Fitzsimmons was a prominent citizen of Edmonton. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and received his discharge in 1949. Upon discharge he took advantage of the incentives offered to former servicemen and went to the University of Alberta where he entered the Department of Agriculture, specializing in cereal crops. While a student he started working on the University's Parkland Farm. Upon graduation he started as the manager of Parkland Farm and remained there for the entire length of his career, from 1949 until early retirement in 1972. After his retirement from the farm he continued to work part-time doing crop inspection for Agriculture Canada, inspecting fields of pedigree seed to see that they met the standards of the Canadian Seed Growers Association. Upon retirement he married Gladys Robinson, a former teacher, to whom he remained married until her death in September of 1988. They had no children. Jack was a member of MacDougall United Church, a mason, philanthropist, world traveler, frequent and diligent writer, and agricultural scientist. He was also the nephew of Robert Fitzsimmons, a man well known for his integral role in the tar sands discovery in Alberta. |