Henry, Robert Alexander Cecil, 1885-1962

Montrealer R.A.C. Henry took a double degree - B.A. and B.Sc.- from McGill in 1912. In 1912 he joined the federal Department of Railways and Canals as an inspecting engineer, and in 1923 became the Director of the Bureau of Economics of the C.N.R. He returned to the Department of Railways and Canals as deputy minister in 1929. Henry became vice-president and general manager of Beauharnois Corporation in 1930 and vice-president of Montreal Heat, Light and Power in 1939; he held both positions until 1944. During World War II, he served as economic adviser, and later executive assistant to the Minister of Munitions, deputy minister of the Department of Reconstruction, and president of Defence Communications Ltd., a crown corporation formed to coordinate communications systems in Eastern Canada on behalf of the armed forces. Henry was also Canada's representative on the Transportation Equipment Committee, surveying transportation needs in liberated war areas. He was named chairman of the Air Transport Board in 1944, but resigned in 1948 to take up a post as executive vice-president of Marine Industries Ltd, a position he held until his death. From 1952 to 1954, he was consulting engineer to the St Lawrence Seaway Project.