Southam, G. Hamilton, 1916-2008 : Gordon Hamilton Southam was born in Ottawa in 1916, son of the newspaper publisher Wilson Mills Southam. He was educated at the University of Toronto, graduating with an honours B.A. in 1939, and studied briefly at Oxford before joining the Royal Artillery in December 1939. He transferred to the Canadian Army in the fall of 1940 and served in Italy and northwest Europe during World War II. After working briefly as a journalist with the London Times and the Ottawa Citizen, he joined the Department of External Affairs in 1948. He was Chargé d'Affaires in Warsaw 1959-1960 and Canada's first Ambassador to Poland 1960-1962.
Hamilton Southam returned to Ottawa in 1962, becoming Head of External Affairs' Information Division. In 1963 he helped to found the National Capital Arts Alliance, a group of private citizens interested in establishing a centre for the performing arts in Ottawa. The federal government became involved, and in 1964 Hamilton Southam was appointed a full-time co-ordinator for the planning of a National Centre for the Performing Arts, reporting directly to the Secretary of State. The National Arts Centre opened in 1967, with Hamilton Southam as its first Director General. Its mandate was "to develop the performing arts in the National Capital region, and to assist the Canada Council in the development of the performing arts elsewhere in Canada". Hamilton Southam retired as Director General of the National Arts Centre in 1977.
Throughout his career, Hamilton Southam has been involved in various capacities with cultural institutions in Canada. He was the first president of the National Gallery Association 1957 and chairman of the organizing committee for the UNESCO Festival and Seminar on Films on Art in Ottawa 1963. He was on the Board of Governors of the National Theatre School 1978-1988 and the Canadian Opera Company 1979-1981. He was appointed chairman of the Canadian Mediterranean Institute in 1988, a trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America 1982-1988, chairman of the building committee for the Rideau Canal Museum 1984, chairman of the Official Residences Council, and co-chairman of the federal government's Task Force on Military History Museums 1990.
Mr. Southam, himself a veteran, organized in 1992 the Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation / La fondation canadienne de la bataille de Normandie. The name changed around 2003 for The Canadian Battlefields Foundation /La fondation canadienne des champs de bataille.
Hamilton Southam is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received the Medal of Culture Merit of Poland, as well as honorary degrees from Trent, Carleton, Ottawa and King's College universities. He received the Canadian Conference of the Arts Diplôme d'honneur in 1981. In 1988 he was installed as Chancellor of the University of King's College.
