Joseph Gerald Hagey (September 28, 1904 – October 26, 1988) was a Canadian businessman, academic, and a founder and first president of the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the c ...

Biography

Hagey was born and raised in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, the son of Menno Hagey (1863-1946) and Esther Cornell (1861-1907). In 1928 he received a B.A. from

Waterloo College Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

, at that time a small church college affiliated with the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

. After graduation, he took a job in sales for B.F. Goodrich, a Kitchener-based rubber company. By the 1950s he had become an advertising and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

manager, though throughout this time he had continued to be involved in the affairs of his ''alma mater'', Waterloo College. In 1953 he left B.F. Goodrich to become the president of Waterloo College. The 1950s and 1960s saw a massive expansion in industry and academia because of the postwar economic boom and because of the impending arrival of the

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...

ers at Canadian universities. Hagey's goal was the transformation of Waterloo College into a university with a particular focus on science and technology, and close links with industry through

co-operative education Cooperative education (or co-operative education) is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for struct ...

. This idea proved somewhat controversial, and Hagey ultimately became the founding president of the

in 1957, when the science and engineering faculties he had established broke away from the rest of Waterloo College, which later became

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

. He retired in 1969 after the removal of his larynx due to cancer. When Hagey retired he had helped the University of Waterloo grow from 75 students in two portable

classroom A classroom or schoolroom is a learning space in which both children and adults learn. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, ranging from preschools to universities, and may also be found in other places where education ...

s to a rambling

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

worth $80 million and a

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 9,000. A building on the UW campus, the J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, is named in his honour. In 1967 he received an honorary doctorate from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

, which later became

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

. In April 1986, he was invested as a member into the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. Hagey was the great-grandson of Mennonite Bishop Joseph B. Hagey and the cousin of Brantford MPP Louis Hagey.

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External links

Dr. J.G. Hagey - President 1958-1969
1904 births 1988 deaths Canadian people of American descent Canadian people of German descent Presidents of the University of Waterloo Members of the Order of Canada People from Waterloo, Ontario People from Hamilton, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni {{Canada-academic-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links