Escott M. Reid
The son of an Anglican parson from Campbellford, Ont., Escott Reid was a Rhodes Scholarship winner from Trinity College, University of Toronto, social science researcher, socialist intellectual, theorist of Canadian neutrality, diplomat and public servant, college principal, and a passionately committed educator.
In 1932 Reid turned down a teaching position at Harvard to become the first permanent national secretary of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA). He was active in the League for Social Reconstruction, an association of left-wing intellectuals founded in Montreal and Toronto in the winter of 1931-1932. He also joined the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, the new social-democratic political party that took shape in 1932-1933. His left-wing views and his conviction that Canada should maintain neutrality in a renewed European war put him at odds with many CIIA members, however, and by 1937 he knew he had to find another berth.
In the 50’s Reid served as Canadian High Commissioner to India and ambassador to West Germany. In 1962 he left External Affairs to join the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 1965 Reid become the first principal of Glendon college. In 1971 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1993 he received the Pearson Medal of Peace for his work as a public service. Escott Reid died on Sept. 20, 1999, at the age of 94.