John Tupper (Jack) Saywell (April 3, 1929 – 20 April 2011) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

specializing in the fields of politics and constitution.

Early life and education

John Tupper Saywell was born on April 3, 1929, to parents John Ferdinand Tupper Saywell and Vera Marguerite Saywell in

Weyburn Weyburn is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 10,870. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. Upon the birth of his younger brother William G. Saywell, the family moved to British Columbia in 1937. His father had received a job position to become Lake Cowichan first high school principal. Saywell received his B.A. and M.A. from 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 ...

and his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Career

He taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

from 1954 to 1962. He joined

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in 1963 and was Dean of Arts at York from 1963 to 1973. Saywell retired from all teaching responsibility at

in 1999.

Work as Historian

Saywell was the editor of two journals: ''

Canadian Historical Review The ''Canadian Historical Review'' (''CHR'') is a scholarly journal in Canada, founded in 1920 and published by the University of Toronto Press.

'', from 1957 to 1963; and ''Canadian Annual Review'' from 1960 to 1979. Among his books were ''The Office of Lieutenant-Governor: A Study in Canadian Government and Politics'', which won the Delancey K. Jay Prize at Harvard University. ''Just Call Me Mitch: The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn'', published in 1991, won the Floyd Chalmers Award for the best book on Ontario history. His 2002 study of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

, titled ''The Lawmakers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism'', won the John W. Dafoe Prize for "distinguished writing on Canada and/or Canada’s place in the world." He also interpreted Canadian, British and European history for thousands of high-school students across Ontario through close to a dozen textbooks with his friend John Ricker.

Legacy

The John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Legal History was endowed by his family and friends and is given bi-annually by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History to the best new book in Canadian legal history. He was director of the graduate program in history at York from 1987 to 1998; its Ph.D. graduates can be found in most major Canadian universities.

Publications

*''The McInnes incident in British Columbia, 1897-1900 : together with a brief survey of the Lieutenant-Governor's constitutional position in the Dominion of Canada'', (1950) *''The Office of Lieutenant-Governor'' (1957) *''The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen'' (1960) *''Quebec 70: A Documentary Narrative'' (1971) *''Lord Minto's Canadian Papers'' (1983) *''Making the law: the courts and the constitution'' (1991, ) *''Just call me Mitch: the life of Mitchell F. Hepburn'' (1991, ) *''Canada: pathways to the present'' (1994, ) *''The Lawmakers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism'' (2002, ). *
Someone to Teach Them: York and the Great University Explosion, 1960-1973
' (2008,

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

, )

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saywell, John 1929 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian university and college faculty deans Harvard University alumni University of British Columbia alumni University of Toronto faculty York University faculty People from Weyburn Writers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian historians