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Albert L. Crossin
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Chartered accountant.
Born at Waterloo, Ontario on 25 October 1868, he moved to Toronto where he worked as an accountant. In 1905, he moved to Winnipeg to open a branch of the Toronto General Trusts Corporation. He later became investment manager of Oldfield, Kirby and Gardner and, in 1922, joined the Mutual Life Assurance Company as manager of its Winnipeg investment department. He was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Winnipeg Advisory Board of the Huron and Erie Mortgage Corporation. and Vice-President of the San Antonio Gold Mines Limited. In 1918, he was a member of the Citizens’ Committee of 100 that negotiated directly with the Winnipeg civic workers who were on strike. He was Chair of the Citizens’ Committee of 1,000 in 1919.
He was married twice, first on 21 October 1891 to Marion “Minnie” Porteus (c1867-1925) with whom he had four children: Albert Porteus Crossin (1893-1989, husband of May Muriel Congdon, daughter of Arthur Congdon), Marjorie Ruth Crossin (1895-1910), Hilda Crossin (1898-?), and Harold Crossin (1900-1982, husband of Constance Lowther “Connie” Bousfield, son-in-law of Frederick Ladlay “Fred” Bousfield). On 21 February 1928, he married Constance Margaret MacLennan (1890-1957) with whom he had a third son, Alan Livingstone Crossin. He served as President of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg (1915-1916) and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce (1916-1917). An active Freemason, he served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba (1925). He was an Honorary Life Member of the Manitoba Club (1905). In 1938, at the age of seventy, he was appointed founding Executive Director of the newly incorporated Manitoba Hospital Service Association, later known as Manitoba Blue Cross, the first provider of non-profit group hospitalization insurance in the province. From small beginnings, Manitoba Blue Cross had become a large and successful organization by the time of his retirement in 1952.
He died at Winnipeg on 19 October 1956 and was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery.
See also:
The Evolution of a Committment - 25 Years of Caring for Manitobans by Lee Sage, Great Plains Publications for Manitoba Blue Cross, 1998.
Ontario marriage registration, Ancestry.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“More activity in production urged,” Manitoba Free Press, 10 May 1916, page 9.
“Mrs. Marion Crossin to be buried in Toronto,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 December 1925, page 6.
Marriage and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“City C of C recalls fights and triumphs,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 February 1954, page 24.
“City executive MHSA organizer A. L. Crossin dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 October 1956.
Obituary [Constance Margaret Crossin], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 June 1957, page 27.
Obituary [Albert Porteus Crossin], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 February 1989, page 41.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
We thank Alan Crossin and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 January 2023
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