Fabian O'Dea

Who was Fabian O'Dea?

Fabian Aloysius O'Dea, QC was a lawyer and the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland, Canada.

Born in St. John's, O'Dea was educated at St. Bonaventure's College, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Toronto and Dalhousie University.

In 1939 he was selected Rhodes Scholar for Newfoundland, but declined in order to join the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, where he served as torpedo officer. In 1945 when he retired from the reserve he attended Oxford for a BCL degree and was admitted to the English Bar at the Inner Temple in 1948. O'Dea became a QC in 1963.

O'Dea was a member of the Board of Regents for MUN, Vice-President for Newfoundland at the Canadian Bar Association and a member of the Canadian Rhodes Scholarship selection committee. Fabian O'Dea was also a collector of sixteenth to eighteenth century maps.