John Meisel

John MeiselCC(born October 23, 1923) is a Canadian political scientist, professor, and scholar, and former chairman of theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Meisel has written extensively on various aspects of politics, notably on parties, elections, ethnic relations, politics and leisure culture, and, at the beginning of his academic career, international politics.

Meisel has been a pioneer in Canada of research on electoral behaviour, political parties and the relationship between politics and leisure culture, particularly the arts. Throughout his career he has examined the cohesion (or its absence) of the Canadian communities. He has also lectured and written about regulation, broadcasting, telecommunications, and the information society.

Career

John Meisel was born inVienna,Austriain October 1923 toJewish Czechparents. His father worked forBaťa Shoesat its headquarters inZlín,Moravia,Czechoslovakiain the 1930s.As the Nazioccupation of Czechoslovakiabecame imminent, Baťa sent its Jewish employees out of Czechoslovakia to Bata centres abroad,and the Meisel family moved toCasablancaand thenHaitibefore settling in Bata's Canadiancompany townofBatawa, Ontarioin 1942.

John Meisel matriculated fromPickering CollegeinNewmarket, Ontario.He received his university training at theUniversity of Toronto'sVictoria College,and theLondon School of Economics.He has taught atQueen's Universitysince 1949, where he is a professoremeritus.He served on the Ontario Advisory Committee on Confederation in 1965.

Meisel worked on the 1965 Canadian National Election Study,and was a member of the ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) Council from 1966 to 1968.

In 1975, he was a consultant for theTrilateral Commission's reportCrisis of Democracy.From 1980 to 1983 he was Chairman of theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.From 1992 until 1995, he was the 103rd President of theRoyal Society of Canada.

In 1989 he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada;promoted to Companion in 1999.

Meisel was the founding editor ofThe Canadian Journal of Political Scienceand ofThe International Political Science Review.

Philanthropy

In addition to his contributions to Canadian university research and public communications, Dr Meisel is known for his philanthropy in Kingston, Ontario. One gift was his 50-hectare property near Crow Lake north of Kingston. This was donated to theRideau Valley Conservation Foundationin 2000 as a sanctuary of peace and quiet for the residents of Eastern Ontario. The property is called the Meisel Woods Conservation Area. Over the years, modest improvements and public safety features have been installed. A commemorative trail called the Sandi Slater Memorial Walk has been added by the Foundation.

External links

• Royal Society of Canada biography
• John Meisel fondsat Queen's University Archives