Broadcaster, civil servant.
Born at Shoal Lake on 13 May 1928, son of Ernest McNair and Emily Coyne, he attended Wolfe Creek School, Shoal Lake Collegiate, and the University of Manitoba, graduating from the latter with a BSc Agriculture degree in 1951. He worked as an Agricultural Representative at Carberry before joining CBC at Winnipeg where he was a farm broadcaster in radio and television. He contributed to the television program Country Calendar which later became Country Canada. In 1959, he joined the Manitoba Department of Agriculture, taking leave to receive a Masters degree in Education (Communications). He returned to the Department, serving as Chief of Information Services and then Director of Communication Services until retirement in 1989. During his retirement, he wrote a memoir entitled A Long Way From Wolfe Creek. In recognition of his work in agricultural communications, he was inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame (2013). On 1 June 1951, he married Marjory “Marj” Fleming and they had three children. He died at Winnipeg on 11 March 2020.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 14 March 2020.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 14 March 2020
Memorable Manitobans
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