Ralph K. Larmour

From his obituary in the Toronto Daily Star, Monday 5 October 1970 — a newspaper notice of his career as a cereal chemist, not a Society document. The Society’s own officer rosters supply the last fact below, connecting him to the CSCL.

A cereal chemist

Ralph Kenneth Larmour taught school in Ontario and Saskatchewan before the First World War, then joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers and was demobilized with a Military Medal. He returned to school afterward, earning a master’s degree in science from the University of Saskatchewan in 1923 and a PhD from the University of Minnesota four years later.

• Taught school in Ontario and Saskatchewan before the First World War, then served with the Winnipeg Grenadiers, returning with a Military Medal
• Master’s degree in science, University of Saskatchewan, 1923; PhD, University of Minnesota, 1927
• Director of the National Research Council’s regional laboratories in Saskatoon from 1945, and, the same year, the first director of the research laboratory of Maple Leaf Mills, Toronto
• Scientific adviser to the Canadian High Commissioner in London; pioneering research for the baking and milling industry at Maple Leaf Mills until retiring in 1963
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Defence Research Board
• Died at his home in Grimsby, survived by his wife Reta, daughter Anne, and son Dr. Peter Larmour of the University of Iowa — 2 October 1970 by the Society’s own Fall 1970 newsletter, 3 October by this obituary, which has him dead “Saturday” in a Monday paper
• President of the Society, 1954 and 1955, and Past President (ex-officio) 1956–57; the Society’s own Larmour Memorial Library is named for him

In 1945 he left the University of Saskatchewan’s chemistry department to become director of the National Research Council’s regional laboratories in Saskatoon, and in the same year became the first director of the research laboratory of Maple Leaf Mills, Toronto. After serving as scientific adviser to the Canadian High Commissioner in London, he left the National Research Council in 1947 and concentrated on pioneer research for the baking and milling industry at the Maple Leaf Mills laboratory until retiring in 1963. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Defence Research Board.

He died at his home in Grimsby, aged 75, survived by his wife Reta, daughter Anne, and son Dr. Peter Larmour of the University of Iowa. The two sources differ by a day: this obituary, printed on Monday 5 October 1970, says he died “Saturday”, the 3rd, while the Society’s own Fall 1970 newsletter (p7) says “Dr. Larmour died October 2nd, 1970”. Both are kept as printed.

With the Society

Dr. Larmour served the Society as Vice-President in 1953 and President in 1954 and 1955, continuing as Past President, ex-officio, in 1956–57, and later as Historian in 1960 and on the Executive Council as late as 1965. His wife Reta Larmour served the Society for even longer, from its founding meeting in 1950 into the 1970s. The Society’s own Larmour Memorial Library, its research library, is named in his memory.

From his obituary, Toronto Daily Star, 5 October 1970, and the Society’s own officer rosters.