Early life, education and military service
Born in Brantford, Ontario, the youngest of six children of English immigrants John and Agnes Pennell, Pennell grew up on a farm near Smithville, Ontario. After graduating from Smithville High School, he worked at Dofasco for two years before attending McMaster University where he majored in political science and economics. After graduating in 1938, he studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School. He married Anne Andrews, a registered nurse, in 1943. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force first as an instructor at the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Edmonton, Alberta, and then hunting for submarines in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, based in Scotland, and in the west coast of Africa. After the war, he was called to the Ontario Bar and practiced law in Brantford.Politics
Pennell was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament for Brant—Haldimand in the 1962 Canadian federal election, 1962 election. From 1964 to 1965, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Canada), Minister of Finance. In 1965, he was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet, Cabinet by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Lester Pearson as Solicitor General of Canada. He retired from politics in April 1968 and was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario where he served until 1985. After retiring, he served on the Ontario Mental Health Review Board and on an Ontario commission of inquiry on municipal government. In 1946, he co-founded the Brantford Red Sox baseball team. From 1971 to 1977, he was Chancellor of McMaster University.References
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennell, Lawrence 1914 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Canadian businesspeople 20th-century jurists 20th-century Canadian lawyers 21st-century Canadian businesspeople 21st-century Canadian lawyers Baseball executives Canadian founders Canadian people of English descent Canadian King's Counsel Canadian sports businesspeople Chancellors of McMaster University Judges in Ontario Lawyers in Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario McMaster University alumni Osgoode Hall Law School alumni People from the Regional Municipality of Niagara Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Solicitors General of Canada Sportspeople from Brantford