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Memorable Manitobans: Graham Spry (1900-1983)
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Graham Spry
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Editor, reporter, newspaper publisher, author, lobbyist, diplomat, corporate executive.
Born at St. Thomas, Ontario on 20 February 1900, he served in the ranks in the First World War and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA in 1922, after serving as Editor of The Manitoban (1919-1921). The gold medallist at the University, he was appointed a Rhodes Scholar and attended University College, Oxford. He worked on the staff of the Manitoba Free Press even before his graduation.
In the early 1930s he was a leading advocate of public broadcasting in Canada and has been called the “Father of the CBC.” He served in a variety of international administrative capacities before becoming personal assistant (1942-1945) to British statesman and politician Sir Stafford Cripps. He later became a member of the Board of Broadcast Governors (1958-1967) and the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (1968-1972).
In recognition of his community service, he was inducted into the Order of Canada (1970).
He died at Ottawa, Ontario on 24 November 1983.
See also:
An Interview with Graham Spry, 1972 by Michael Dupuis
Manitoba History, Number 51, February 2006Review: Rose Potvin (editor), Passion and Conviction: The Letters of Graham Spry
Manitoba History, Number 24, Autumn 1992Passion and Conviction: The Letters of Graham Spry edited by Rose Potvin (1992).
Sources:
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 26 November 1983, page 70.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 14 April 2022
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