Physician.
Born at Cypress River on 18 April 1894, son of Roderick W. MacCharles and Florence Armenia MacLean (?-1945), he moved to Manitou at an early age. He attended Manitoba College (1911-1912) then the Manitoba Medical College (1913-1914) before serving with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in France. He was recalled to Canada in 1917 to complete his medical training. In 1926 he joined the University of Manitoba as a demonstrator in Clinical Surgery. In the 1930s he became a key figure in the establishment of the Manitoba Medical Service, which became the Manitoba Health Services Commission. Active in cancer research, he was President of the Canadian Cancer Institute (1963-1964). In 1977 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Manitoba and received a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1982 he was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt. He was an Honorary Life Member of the Manitoba Club. He died at Winnipeg on 10 April 1991.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Attestation Papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
“R. MacCharles, pioneer doctor, dies in hospital,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 September 1946. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9]
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 1991, page 18.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 13 April 2019
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