Plumptre, Beryl, 1908-2008 : Beryl Plumptre was born in 1908 in Heidelberg, Australia. She attended Presbyterian Ladies College and received a Bachelor's of Commerce from the University of Melbourne in 1931. After graduation, she started working for the Bank of New South Wales. Shortly thereafter, she was offered a scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in economics at the University of Cambridge at a time when that field of studies was mainly occupied by men.
At Cambridge, she met Canadian Arthur "Wynne" Plumptre, a fellow economist. He followed her to Australia where they soon wed in 1938. When Wynne accepted an appointment at the University of Toronto, Beryl and her husband moved to Canada. Later they moved to Washington and Paris, where her husband held various diplomatic positions. Although, Beryl Plumptre at this time focused on supporting her husband and children, she also worked on various boards, including the Wartime and Prices Board as a research officer (1946-1947), and the Canadian Tariff Board as an economic consultant (1954-1955).
She became prominent and newsworthy in her own right in the 1960s and 1970s at an age where most people would consider retirement. She held the position of President of the Vanier Institute of the Family (1968-1973) and the National President of the Consumers' Association of Canada from 1961-1966, which led to the formation of the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (dismantled in 1993). It was this position that led to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's decision to appoint Beryl Plumptre as Chair of the newly created Food Prices Review Board and later, when the board was dismantled, as Vice-Chair of the Anti-Inflation Board. The 1970s saw the rapid rise in food prices, which led to Trudeau imposing wage and price controls. In 1975, she became the Canadian newsmaker of the year.
She left the Anti-Inflation Board in 1977 to take care of her husband, who was dying from skin cancer. After his death, she continued her activist and economic work in various positions, including the director of Canadian Welfare Council, Reeve of the Village of Rockcliffe Park (1978-1985), the Chairman, and National Executive for the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (1983-1987), and Chair of the Kidney Foundation of Canada. She also maintained her connections with the Consumers' Association as a member of the board for the Consumers' Association of Canada Foundation. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995 and she received several honorary degrees including those from Bishop University, Carleton University and the University of Toronto. Beryl Plumptre died in 2008 at the age of 99.
