Ronald Lou-Poy, (September 25, 1934February 9, 2022) was a Canadian lawyer and community leader. He served as chancellor of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

from 2003 to 2008.

Early life

Lou-Poy was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

, on September 25, 1934. His father worked as a

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

, and Lou-Poy was the third generation of his family to reside in Victoria. He studied at Victoria College (which later became the

) and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a 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 among the top thre ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

in 1957. He was then accepted into the

University of British Columbia Faculty of Law , mottoeng = Let justice be done though the heavens fall , type = Public Law School , endowment = , head_label = Dean , head = Ngai Pindell , established = , city = Vancouver , state = Br ...

, obtaining a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

in 1960.

Career

After graduating, Lou-Poy

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

with Crease Harman & Company, and was subsequently called to the bar of British Columbia in 1961. He specialized in

trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "settl ...

, wills and estates,

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

and commercial law, as well as

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

and

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

. He eventually became a

senior partner A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as "equity partners". Th ...

of that law firm. Lou-Poy first served on the University of Victoria board of governors from 1972 to 1974, and again from 1992 to 1995. He was also a founding director of the university's Innovation and Development Corporation, a commercialization enterprise that introduced ground-breaking technologies to market. He was eventually elected as the ninth chancellor of the University of Victoria, assuming the post in 2003. Two years later, he was elected to a second term by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

. During his tenure as chancellor, he officiated over more than 70 convocation ceremonies, during which he handed out over 16,000 degrees, certificates, and diplomas (a total of 25,600 when including those graduating ''in absentia''). He also presented university degrees in

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...

to Inuit students enrolled in a special University of Victoria Faculty of Law program, as well as honorary degrees at the Great Hall of the People in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. His family financed the construction of a

child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

centre at the university and established a scholarship for law students.

Awards and honours

Lou-Poy was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in December 1989. He was granted an honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Victoria (his alma mater) in 2000. Three years later, he was appointed a member of 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 cen ...

and invested a year later in October 2004. Lou-Poy was conferred the Leadership Victoria Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, in recognition of his long-standing service to the local community. He was also presented with a community service award by the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was he ...

. He was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce's Business Hall of Fame in September 2021.

Personal life

Lou-Poy was married to May until his death. Together, they had two children: Anne-Marie and Patrick. He played tennis into his seventies and golf until a few years before his death, having been a member of the Uplands Golf Club. Lou-Poy died on February 9, 2022, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lou-Poy, Ronald 1934 births 2022 deaths Canadian lawyers Canadian people of Hong Kong descent Canadian King's Counsel Canadian university and college chancellors Lawyers in British Columbia Members of the Order of Canada People from Victoria, British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni University of British Columbia alumni Victoria College, British Columbia alumni