William S. Hoar, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetWilliam S. Hoar
Canadian zoologist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
About William S. Hoar
- William S.
- Hoar, (August 31, 1913, Moncton NB – June 13, 2006, Vancouver BC) was an eminent professor and head of department of zoology at the University of British Columbia.
- He received an Order of Canada award on June 26, 1974.
- He also had several other degrees and diplomas, some of which were honorary (LLD from SFU in 1998), and others of which were earned the old-fashioned hard-work way (DSc).
- He was, first and foremost, a grandfather, husband and father.
- A patient man who was very involved with his family, he was also very well known in the zoology world, and has a series of lectures named after him, that are given every year at UBC. Bill, as he was known, is survived by 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren (7 of whom were already born at the time of his death).
- His 4th biological child died before he died.
- His surviving children are Stewart George, David Innes, and Melanie Frances. Dr.
- Hoar married on August 13, 1941.
- His wife was Margaret (Myra) MacRae MacKenzie from Scotland.
- Bill and Myra jointly wrote "A Hebridean Heritage" on Myra's family ancestry.
- Prior to that, Bill had already written other books on his family history, including "By Way of New England" and "Steeves and Colpitts: Pioneers of the Upper Petitcodiac".
- His passion was for genealogy when he retired, but having had prior success as a well published zoology professor, he knew his way around book writing and editing.
- His "baby" from the zoology years was [1].
- His later family history books were written on his own company's press, called "Tangled Roots Press". Long before having children, Bill worked with Charles Best, co-discoverer of insulin.
- Bill met his wife Myra in an elevator one day, carrying rabbits in his hand for animal testing.
- It was not love at first sight; they became friends first, and when he eventually proposed to her, she answered that she "would have to think about it" rather than an absolute yes or no.
- However, evidently she ultimately agreed and they settled down to married life.
- They were married 50+ years when Myra died, a long and happy marriage. Bill suffered from poliomyelitis as a boy, which left him with a smaller withered leg.
- He was a proud man and never fussed over his minor handicap.
- Ultimately he also was affected by post-polio syndrome much later in life. In the later years of his life Hoar enjoyed sushi lunches, and lunches out with his old boys' club from his university faculty days.
- He was a very well read and well educated man who continued to read long non-fiction books into his 90s.
- His ultimate demise was mostly age-related.
Read more at Wikipedia