Margison, Arthur D., 1918- : Arthur D. Margison, engineer and businessman, was born in Toronto on 18 May 1918, the son of Oswald Margison, a noted structural engineer, and Ida M. MacDonald. Margison studied engineering at the University of Toronto and at McGill where he graduated in 1945. During World War II he worked on the planning and designing of ships for the Shipbuilding Division of Anglo-Canadian Pulp and Paper Ltd., as well as other wartime projects. In 1946 he joined his father at Margison Babcock Consulting Engineers where he soon became a Junior Partner. In 1950 he was appointed vice-president of the newly formed Margison, Babcock and Associates and was made general manager of a major defence program. After disolution of the firm in 1954, it became A.D. Margison and Associates Ltd.
The firm was responsible for many large scale engineering projects such as the Pinetree Installations, large aircraft hangars for the Royal Canadian Air Force, the NORAD Underground Headquarters in North Bay, the Gardiner Expressway, as well as numerous bridges and industrial plants. In 1968, he developed an overhead rapid transit system (Margison ORT) which he attempted to market throughout Canada and the U.S.
Margison was also an entrepreneur. In 1963 he formed and was president of the Island Development Company of Prince Edward Island whose aim was to foster the economic development of the island. Among other activities, Margison's development company owned the Charlottetown Hotel and became involved in the PEI food and agriculture industry. This company was dissolved in 1974. Margison purchased Barber Turbine and Foundries Ltd. (founded 1867) which became Barber Hydraulic Turbine Limited. The company specialized in the construction of turbines for lowhead hydro installations.
Another company, Canada Frontier Water and Power Ltd., was set up to design low-head hydro-electric stations. Due to financial hardships, this company was dissolved in 1979. Margison and the American firm Clay-Mill Technical Systems Inc. set up the Clay-Mill Energy-from Waste Inc. in 1986 of which Margison was president. The company was interested in designing and building regional incinerators to provide electricity. Because of the parent company's problems, Margison wound up his company in 1988.
Margison was a member of a semi-official delegation of Canadian businessmen which visited the Soviet Union in 1958. This was one of the first visits of senior Canadians to the Soviet Union. Margison also visited Cuba in 1960 and returned to the Soviet Union in 1964. In 1958 Margison became a member of the Organizing Committee to form York University to meet the demand for post-secondary education in North York and also to solve the problem of overcrowding at the University of Toronto. In the 1960s Margison was a member of the Board of Governors of Frontier College, the University of Guelph, director of the Technical Service Council and Chairman of the Canadian Good Roads Association. He was also a member of numerous professional engineering associations.
![[Maps, survey plans, architectural and technical drawings relating to the career of A.D. Margison ]](/images/folder-30.png){kind=small}