Gerald Gordon Symons (September 7, 1921 – November 22, 2012), Lord of Whitehouses, Nottinghamshire, U.K., was an author, poet, painter, and successful pioneer in the Canadian insurance industry.
[ Symons served as Chairman of ten different insurance and financial institutions across Canada and the United States, including Goran Capital Inc.,]
Early life
Born in 1921 in Lachine, Quebec
Lachine () is a borough (''arrondissement'') within the city of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It was an autonomous city until the municipal mergers in 2002.
History
Lachine, apparently from the French term ' ...
, Symons grew up in Dixie, a small residential town with two brothers, John and Arthur (Randy). Each of the three boys grew to become surviving pilots in the Second World War. Their father, Gerald Symons, was a surviving member of the Canadian Forces of World War I and World War II.
War service
Gordon Symons began his military career with the Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
in 1941 and graduated as a Sergeant-Pilot. He was soon sent overseas on the Queen Mary and was sent for training in Bournemouth on the south coast of England. Thereafter, Symons flew Beaufighters and Mosquitos on Anti Shipping Strikes with Squadron 143 of the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
, attacking German naval and merchant ships in France, Belgium, German and Scandinavian waters."
Career in finance
Upon his safe return to Canada after the war, Gordon attended university at Sir George Williams, Montreal, entering the field of finance.
A decade later, in 1964, he formed G. Gordon Symons Co. Ltd., a predecessor to Goran Capital Inc., a public holding company specializing in insurance. Over the course of three decades, Symons grew his family of companies, becoming one of the largest non-standard automobile insurers in the United States.
The Boys of Spring
In 2006, Symons released a World War II autobiography entitled ''The Boys of Spring.'' The 713-page book contains actual flight mission records, obtained by Symons through R.A.F. Records Division in Kew, England and many coming of age stories related to a young pilot's life in wartime Britain.
''The Boys of Spring'' also contains Symons' research into the Clayton Knight Committee The Clayton Knight Committee, was founded by Billy Bishop and Clayton Knight in 1940. Homer Smith and several German émigrés, who wanted America to join the war against the Axis powers, provided funding for the secret and unlawful commissioning ...
and the recruitment of 8,200 Americans by the Royal Canadian Air Force during a period of U.S. neutrality.
Death
Symons died in Caledon, Ontario
Caledon (; 2021 population 76,581) is a town in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. From a shortened form of Caledonia, the Roman name for North Britain; Caledon is a developing urban area, althoug ...
on 22 November 2012.
External links
Symons' personal website
TheBoysofSpring.com
promotes the book and provides information regarding the Clayton Knight Committee.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Gordon
1921 births
2012 deaths
Canadian autobiographers
Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II
Businesspeople from Montreal
People from Lachine, Quebec
Writers from Montreal