Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
MacLeod, Ken
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1944-2018
History
Born in 1944, Ken MacLeod grew up in South Vancouver. He graduated John Oliver Secondary School in 1964, and later received a B.A. in Education from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s degree from the University of Victoria. He had a long career as a teacher and coach in South Vancouver. MacLeod passed in 2018 after a lifetime involved in the South Vancouver community.
MacLeod maintained involvement with John Oliver Secondary School and the broader South Vancouver community throughout his lifetime. He initiated multiple high school reunions and operated an alumni e-newsletter. Additionally, he dedicated twelve years to conducting over two-hundred interviews with community members, researching at local archives, and writing The Story of South Vancouver (2012).
MacLeod volunteered regularly with veterans. He became a guide with Special Travel International in 1995, leading military tours to Canadian battlefields and World War I and World War II commemoration sites, as well as 29 trips to Northwest Europe and Italy. MacLeod also produced 19 musical shows in retirement, including an annual Remembrance Day music show. In recognition of his work with veterans, MacLeod received the Veterans Affairs Canada Commendation, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Honorary Life Membership in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and the South Saskatchewan Regiment.
MacLeod was also heavily interested in the history of B.C. fishing, especially salmon trolling. He worked with the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission and Fishing and Oceans Canada (DFO) in the 1960s. Several of MacLeod’s relatives worked in the fishing industry, including his Uncle Dick, who spent thirty years working for DFO, managing the Big Qualicum River Hatchery, and producing film documentaries. MacLeod interviewed over five-hundred people over his life, including early 20th-century B.C. fishermen and their relatives, veterans, and South Vancouver settlers. MacLeod conducted and transcribed interviews related to B.C. fishermen from the 1970s to 2010s, and was in the process of writing a book on the aural history of West Coast fishermen and salmon fishery.