Kermode, Francis

Francis Kermode served as the long-time Director of the Provincial Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, during the 1920s. Though often noted for his work in taxidermy and natural history collections, he is famously the namesake of the white-phased "Kermode bear" (Ursus kermodei). In 1924, he notably received a live white black bear cub captured on Princess Royal Island into his care at Victoria.

He was born in Liverpool, England on 28 June 1874 and moved to Victoria with his family when he was ten. On 1 January 1900, he married Margaret Fowler, and they had two children. He succeeded John Fannin in 1904 as Curator and later Director of the B.C. Provincial Museum until retiring in 1940. From Provincial Reports, he climbed Mt. MacDonald on 3 July 1918 and Mt. Braden on 5 and 8 July, collecting butterflies. Francis Kermode is the namesake of the Kermode bear (Ursus kermodei) or spirit bear as it is often known, that inhabits coastal B.C. His studies confirmed that this white or cream-coloured bear is a subspecies of the American black bear, not a ‘blond’ brown bear as found on the Alaska panhandle. The colour of the Kermode bear’s coat is due to expression of a recessive gene, not the lack of pigment (albinism). He was a keen ornithologist and wrote the book Catalogue of British Columbia Birds. On Louise Island in the Queen Charlotte district is Mt. Kermode.

Francis Kermode passed away in Victoria on 29 December 1946.