Memorable Manitobans: Robert Russell “Russ” Emerson (1894-1987)

Grain executive.

Born at Winnipeg on 1 December 1894, son of Robert Emerson (1859-?) and Harriet Sharp Holmes (1860-?), he began working at the age of 14, as an office boy and later bookkeeper for the National Elevator Company. During the First World War, he served with the 61st Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery. He returned to the company after the war and was later the Vice-President and General Manager of the British America Elevator Company (1936-1940), and Vice-President (1940-1959), President (1959-1961), and Chairman (1961-1971) of National Grain. He was also President of the North West Line Elevator Association, and Grain Insurance and Guarantee Company, and Chairman of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange (1949-1950). He served on the Advisory Committee for the Canadian Wheat Board (1952-1955). On 26 June 1920, he married Annie Helen “Nan” McPherson (?-1968) at Winnipeg. They had a daughter and a son. He was a member of the St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church, Masons, Khartum Shriners, St. Charles Country Club, Manitoba Club, and Winnipeg Winter Club. In 1982, he moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where he died on 15 June 1987 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.

Sources:

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Obituary [Annie H. Emerson], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 May 1968, page 24.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 June 1987, page 50.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 3 November 2022

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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