James Gordon Parr (May 26, 1927 – April 5, 2000) was an English-Canadian academic, broadcaster and provincial civil servant in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada.Donn Downey, "Jim Parr:CBC Radio fans recall his show on metallurgy In addition to career as an academic and public servant, he wrote poetry and satire", ''Globe and Mail'', April 8, 2000 Parr was an engineer by training specializing in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

and he once hosted a programme on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

called ''The Mad Metallurgist'' aimed at popularizing the discipline. He also wrote several books on the subject including ''The Engineer's Guide to Steel''; ''Man, Metals and Modern Magic'' and ''An Introduction to Stainless Steel''. He earned his

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in metallurgy from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

and worked as a mining engineer before enrolling at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

to study his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. He lectured there before coming to Canada to work for

Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

in Sudbury. He returned to Canada in 1953 to work for the British Columbia Research Council and also lectured at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. In 1955, he went to the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

to accept an appointment as an associate professor and then full professor. He moved to

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

in 1964 to become dean of the faculty of applied science at the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universit ...

. After serving as chairman of the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in Ontario (COPSEO) and as president of the Ontario Committee on University Affairs, Parr was appointed deputy minister of Colleges and Universities - a civil service position for the provincial government. In addition to writing poetry, Parr composed selections for the piano and wrote operettas that were performed at the Toronto Arts & Letters Club. Two years before his untimely death, Parr produced a CD, "When Music Sounds" , consisting solely of his own songs, sung by Canadian tenor James Leatch accompanied by pianist Dona Jean Clary. In 1979, he was appointed chairman of

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

during which time he unsuccessfully sought a license for the network from the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

(CRTC) to launch a national children's channel. In 1985 he was appointed director-general of the

Ontario Science Centre The Ontario Science Centre, formally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology, is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eglint ...

for a three-year term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, James 1927 births 2000 deaths Ontario civil servants Canadian television executives Canadian academics in engineering Canadian university and college faculty deans TVO executives