Administrator, conservationist.
Born on a farm near Aberdeen, Scotland around 1908, he came to Canada in 1929 and spent several years in the Arctic working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. A keen naturalist, in 1938 his discovery of breeding grounds for the Ross Goose brought him to the attention of Ducks Unlimited Canada. He joined the organization, serving as Saskatchewan Provincial Manager (1949-1951) and General Manager (1951-1968). After retirement in 1969, he resumed working as a consultant. At the time of his death, he worked for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company at Anchorage, Alaska. He and wife Phyllis Avery McKinnon (1910-1975) had a son, William Angus Gavin (c1946-1992). He was a member of the Manitoba Club (1961-1982). He died at Regina, Saskatchewan on 20 October 1982.
Birth registration [Phyllis Avery McKinnon], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Visitors expected here for wedding,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 May 1968, page 27.
Obituary [Phyllis Avery Gavin], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 August 1975, page 32.
Ducks and Men: Forty Years of Co-operation and Conservation by William Graeme Leitch, Ducks Unlimited Canada, 1978, page 88.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 28 October 1982, page 58.
“Man of north left legacy,” Russell Banner, 16 February 1983, page 2.
Obituary [William Angus Gavin], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 May 1992, page 44.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 24 July 2023
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