Maurice Strong

Maurice Strong, born on April twenty-ninth, nineteen twenty-nine, was a prominent Canadian entrepreneur and diplomat whose career spanned several decades and industries. He began his journey in the Alberta oil patch, where he established himself as a businessman and eventually became the President of Power Corporation of Canada until nineteen sixty-six.

In the early nineteen seventies, Strong took on a significant role as Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, marking the beginning of his influential work in environmental advocacy. He later became the first executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, a position that solidified his commitment to ecological issues on a global scale.

Returning to Canada, Strong served as the Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada from nineteen seventy-six to nineteen seventy-eight and led Ontario Hydro, one of North America's largest power utilities. His leadership extended beyond corporate roles; he was the national president and chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of YMCAs and headed American Water Development Incorporated.

In nineteen eighty-six, he was appointed as a commissioner of the World Commission on Environment and Development, earning recognition from the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a leader in the international environmental movement. Strong also held the position of President of the Council of the University for Peace from nineteen ninety-eight to two thousand six and was an honorary professor at Peking University, where he contributed to its Environmental Foundation.

Throughout his life, Maurice Strong was dedicated to sustainability and security in Northeast Asia, serving as chairman of the advisory board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability. He passed away in two thousand fifteen at the age of eighty-six, leaving behind a legacy of environmental stewardship and diplomatic service.