Born at Winnipeg in 1935, son of William Parker “Bill” McGarva and Sarah “Sally” Roberts (1907-1990), he attended John M. King School, General Wolfe School, Gordon Bell High School and completed grade 12 at United College. He worked part-time for Moore's Taxi and as a railway busboy before graduating from the University of Manitoba, with a degree in Architecture, in 1958.
He worked at the architectural firm of Kurnarsky and Weinberg for a year before joining Waisman and Ross in 1959. He continued with the firm after its merger with Blankstein Coop Gillmore and Hanna in 1964 to form the Number TEN Architectural Group. He was involved in such project as construction of the Canadian consulate in Islamabad, Pakistan and the Zambian Institute of Technology in Kitwe, Zambia. He became a partner in 1976 and served until retirement in 2001. He served as President of teh Manitoba Association of Architects (1977) and was made a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. He also served on the Winnipeg Board of Revisions.
On 26 September 1959, he married Patsy Esther “Pat” Geres at Christ Lutheran Church in Winnipeg and they had three children. He was a member of the Fort Garry Curling Club, Winnipeg Winter Club, and Granite Curling Club.
He died at Winnipeg on 28 January 2019.
“Mother entertains for Patsy Geres,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 September 1959, page 15.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 9 February 2019.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 January 2024
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