Plant breeder, art collector.
Born at Camrose, Alberta on 11 September 1915, son of Jeremiah “Jerry” Twomey (1889-1978) and Olga Elizabeth Twomey (1894-1988), brother of Patrick J. “Paddy” Twomey, his family moved to Winnipeg in 1928. He got his start in plant breeding at the age of 24 when he created a creamy white gladiolus with a red throat that won the World’s Most Beautiful Glad Award at the 1939 World’s Fair. He named it “Margaret Beaton” after his grandmother. Working at the McFayden Seed Company and the Canada Department of Agriculture, he helped to develop dwarf wheat varieties. He also co-founded T & T Seeds of Winnipeg and was an amateur rose breeder. He was one of the early collectors of Inuit art. Starting with the purchase of three Inuit carvings in 1952, he amassed the world’s largest private collection that he eventually donated to the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He died at Encinitas, California on 11 April 2008.
See also:
Manitoba Business: T&T Seeds
Obituary [Jeremiah Twomey], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 October 1978, page 43.
Obituary [Olga Elizabeth Twomey], Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1988, page 40.
“Manitobans’ Legacy a Better Province,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 January 2009, page B1.
Obituary [Jeremiah F. Twomey], Legacy.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Linda Dietrick for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 November 2024
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