H. R. MacMillan

Who was H. R. MacMillan?

Harvey Reginald MacMillan, CC CBE was a Canadian forester, forestry industrialist, wartime administrator, and philanthropist.

Born in Pine Orchard, Whitchurch Township, Ontario, he attended school in Bogarttown, Sharon, and Aurora. He graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1906 with an honours degree in biology. He obtained a Master of Science degree in Forestry at Yale University in 1908. In 1912, he was appointed first Chief Forester of British Columbia, and in that capacity he established the British Columbia Forest Service. MacMillan served as Assistant Director of the Imperial Munitions Board during World War I.

In 1919, backed by British timber merchant Montague Meyer, MacMillan established the H.R. MacMillan Export Company, Ltd, the first privately owned lumber export brokerage firm in the province. In 1933 he was elected Chairman of the Vancouver Board of Trade. During World War II, he was Timber Controller, Chairman of the Wartime Requirements Board, and President of Wartime Merchant Shipping Ltd. For these efforts, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1951 his company merged with Bloedel, Stewart and Welch Ltd. to form MacMillan Bloedel Limited.