Memorable Manitobans: Alan Edmund Tarr (1913-1995)

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Alan Edmund Tarr
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Business executive.

Born at Winnipeg on 27 October 1913, son of Edgar Jordan Tarr and Kathleen Anderson Burke (1883-1975), he was educated at Pickering College (Newmarket, Ontario) before attending the University of Manitoba (BA Mathematics, 1934). He joined the Actuarial Department of the Great West Life Assurance Company in 1935 and, in 1940, was transferred to its Investment Department. He joined the Canadian Army in 1942 and served at National Headquarters in Ottawa until 1945, attaining the rank of Major. After the war, he returned to Winnipeg and his career at Great West Life, retiring in 1978 as Vice President of Investments.

In 1944, he married Dorothy Mildred Ilsley (1918-2004) of Somerset, Nova Scotia. They had three daughters. He served for several years in the 1950s on the Fort Garry School Board, and was a member of the Advisory Board for the Winnipeg Foundation (1950-1977). He was a Sinking Fund Trustee for the City of Winnipeg for about 25 years, serving many years as Chairman. He was a Director of United Corporations Limited until 1978, a member and later Chairman of the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, and Chairman of the J. W. Dafoe Foundation. He served on the Board and Executive of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Football Club, and was President of the Manitoba Club (1977).

He died at his Winnipeg home on 30 May 1995.

Sources:

Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“These Manitobans will help plan centennial,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 1963, page 9.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 1 June 1995, page 45.

Obituary [Dorothy Mildred Tarr], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 September 2004.

We thank Susan Bracken for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 11 January 2021

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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