Businessman, philanthropist.
Born at Elkhorn on 28 July 1930, one of seven children of grain buyer John Peter “Jack” Loewen and nurse Ada Sherwood Howard (1898-1970), brother of Alice Katrina Loewen Chambers, after graduating from the Elkhorn High School he spent a year teaching in a one-room school. In 1950, he moved with his family to Winnipeg where he trained as a chartered accountant. In 1968, he launched the payroll cheque company Comcheq Services and grew it into a national enterprise. He sold it to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1992 and it was re-sold to an American firm in 1998. He maintained control of a division called TelPay that provided electronic bill-paying services to many financial institutions. He opposed free trade with the United States.
In 1958, he married Shirley Elizabeth Perret and they subsequently had two sons and three daughters. After living for a time in Edmonton, Alberta, they became long-time residents of St. Norbert. In 1980, he joined Jeanne Perrault and Jim Cameron in founding Heritage St. Norbert that promoted history of the community. In the mid-1990s, he assisted in efforts to establish a Canadian professonal hockey league. In 1997, he was appointed to head the Winnipeg Millennium Committee that marked the city's festivities in 2000. He supported the arts community in Winnipeg with donations to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Manitoba Opera, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Manitoba Choral Association, St. Norbert Art Centre, Shakespeare in the Ruins, West End Cultural Centre, Urban Circle Training Centre, Prairie Ink Literary Journal, and others.
Active in politics, initially as a Liberal, he left the party over its support for free trade and, in 1992, became President of the newly formed National Party of Canada. He was its candidate for the Winnipeg South Centre riding in the 1993 federal general election but finished a distant fifth place.
In recognition of his community service, he was inducted into the Order of Canada (1999), Winnipeg Citizens Hall of Fame (2008), and Order of Manitoba (2018). He received a Distinguished Service Award from Heritage Winnipeg (1999), Prix Manitoba (1999), Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012).
He died at the Riverview Health Centre on 4 February 2026.
1931 Canada census, Ancestry.
Obituary [Ada Sherwood Loewen], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 September 1970, page 49.
Obituary [John Peter Loewen], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 April 1990, page 30.
William H. Loewen, Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 14 February 2026.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 14 February 2026
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