Few university presidents could be considered 'to the mannerborn.' Larry MacKenzie was the exception. He discovered this talentwhen president of the University of New Brunswick from 1940 to 1944. Hebecame president of the University of British Columbia in 1944 andserved for eighteen years. Although UBC’s present eminence owesmuch to many people, as biographer P.B. Waite points out, 'it isbasically Larry MacKenzie’s creation.'
His importance to UBC is inestimable. No doubt demography aloneenjoined UBC’s considerable expansion, but Larry gave it force andfocus. He established the Faculty of Graduate Studies and introducedprofessional faculties such as law and medicine. He was a marvellousdoer; but more important, he could recognize talent in others, like his'chief expediter,' Gordon Shrum, UBC’s redoubtable head ofphysics and dean of graduate studies.
Larry’s big archive at UBC has enabled Waite to essay the lifeof a marvellously adept and humane president who loved his work and hisstudents, a vital and great-hearted Canadian who had lived and worked,as one could say, a mari usque ad mare.