Ignatieff, Vladimir, 1905-1994 : Public servant, military officer.
Vladimir Ignatieff was born in Kiev, Russia, the son of Count Paul and Countess Natalie Ignatieff. After fleeing Russia during the Russian Revolution, the family emigrated to England in 1919. Vladimir graduated from St.Paul's School, London in 1923, and obtained his Bachelor of Science from the Wye Agricultural College, University of London, in 1927. He came to Canada in 1928, first working on a dairy farm in Richmond, Quebec, and then homesteading in the Peace River region of Alberta. He also worked at the Dominion Experimental Sub-Station in Beaverlodge, Alberta. From 1930 to 1932 Ignatieff was enrolled in the Master's Program in Soil Science at the University of Alberta, working as a research assistant. After completing his M.Sc.in Soils, Ignatieff was accepted to the Ph.D. Program in Bio-chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and earned his Doctorate in 1935.
From 1936 to 1940, Dr. Ignatieff was a lecturer and assistant professor at the Department of Soil Science, University of Alberta. In 1940, he took a leave of absence to join the Canadian Armed Forces. He had a distinguished military career, serving as an officer in the Calgary Highlanders; Technical Officer in the 1st Canadian Corps; and in Technical Intelligence with the British 21st Army Group. He served through the Italian campaign, including the Battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944, and the invasion of Europe. Ignatieff became a specialist in chemical warfare, responsible for work pertaining to chemical industry, chemical warfare, fuels and agriculture. In 1945 he personally located the pilot plant for the production of nerve gas in Germany. He completed his military service in 1945 with the rank of Major.
In late 1945 Dr. Ignatieff joined the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He began his career with FAO as a Soil Fertility Specialist, and was the first Canadian to be employed as an international civil servant in the United Nations.
Dr. Ignatieff was responsible for the technical direction and administration of soils and fertilizer use programs in forty countries. In 1964 he was appointed as the Deputy Director Land and Water Development Division of the FAO. He retired from the United Nations in 1969.
Dr. Ignatieff is the author of numerous publications on soil and fertilizers. He was responsible for the preparation and publication of The Multilingual Vocabulary of Soil Science in nine different languages.
Vladimir Ignatieff was married to Florence Hargreaves and they had two children: son Paul and daughter Mika. He died on September 9, 1994.
