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( Roland Michener)
Daniel Roland Michener PC CC CMM CD QC (April 19, 1900 - August 6, 1991) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He served as Governor General of Canada from 1967 to 1974. His tenure as Canada's Governor General is often considered to be a key turning point in the history of his office. Since his retirement the Governor Generalship has moved dramatically in a less formal direction. Michener served as chancellor of Queen's University from 1973 to 1980. Roland Michener was the son of former Canadian Senator Edward Michener. Roland Michener attended the University of Alberta for his undergraduate degree, then earned graduate degrees at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club. While he was at Oxford he met Lester B. Pearson – the two men would become lifelong friends. He practised law in Toronto while sitting on the Executive Council of Ontario and became the secretary general for the Rhodes Foundation. On February 26, 1927, in St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church in Toronto he married Norah Willis, who, as the spouse of the Governor-General, was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. The couple had three daughters. Sadly, one daughter, Wendy, died at the age of 33 on January 1, 1969, while the Micheners were in office. For her thesis on the French philosopher, Jacques Maritain, Mrs. Michener received her doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1953. Michener first ran for office in the downtown Toronto riding of St. David as a Progressive Conservative in the Ontario provincial election of 1943, but was defeated by William Dennison of the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. He defeated Dennison in the 1945 election and took his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was appointed Provincial Secretary in the cabinet of Premier George Drew, and was given the task of formalizing cabinet procedures so that there would be an agenda and minutes. However, he lost again to Dennison in the 1948 provincial election and decided to leave provincial politics.
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