View source for Gerald Hagey

{{Short description|Canadian businessman, academic, and college president}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
|honorific-prefix   = 
|name               = Joseph Gerald "Gerry" Hagey
|honorific-suffix   = [[Order of Canada|CM]]
|image              = 
|imagesize          = 
|smallimage         = 
|caption            = 
|order              = 
|office             = [[University president|President]] of the [[University of Waterloo]]
|term_start         = 1958
|term_end           = 1969
|predecessor        = 
|successor          = [[Howard Petch]]
|birth_date         = {{birth date|1904|09|28}}
|birth_place        = [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]], [[Ontario]]
|death_date         = {{death date and age|1988|10|26|1904|09|28}}
|death_place        = 
|birthname          = 
|nationality        = 
|spouse             = 
|relations          = 
|children           = 
|residence          = 
|alma_mater         = 
|occupation         = 
|profession         = 
|religion           = 
}}
'''Joseph Gerald Hagey''' (September 28, 1904 &ndash; October 26, 1988) was a Canadian businessman, academic, and a founder and first president of the [[University of Waterloo]] in [[Waterloo, Ontario]].

==Biography==
Hagey was born and raised in [[Hamilton, Ontario]], the son of Menno Hagey (1863-1946) and Esther Cornell (1861-1907).<ref name="UWSCA">{{cite web|title=Hagey, Joseph Gerald family fonds|url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/hagey-joseph-gerald-family-fonds|website=University of Waterloo Library|publisher=Special Collections & Archives|accessdate=14 December 2016|date=14 April 2014}}</ref> In 1928 he received a B.A. from [[Waterloo College]], at that time a small church college affiliated with the [[University of Western Ontario]].  After graduation, he took a job in sales for [[Goodrich Corporation|B.F. Goodrich]], a Kitchener-based rubber company.<ref name="WPL">{{cite web|title=Gerald Hagey|url=http://www.wpl.ca/sites/default/files/waterloo_150/hagey_gerald.pdf|publisher=Waterloo Public Library|accessdate=14 December 2016}}</ref> By the 1950s he had become an advertising and [[public relations]] manager, though throughout this time he had continued to be involved in the affairs of his ''alma mater'', Waterloo College.

In 1953 he left B.F. Goodrich to become the president of Waterloo College.  The 1950s and 1960s saw a massive expansion in industry and academia because of the postwar economic boom and because of the impending arrival of the [[baby boom]]ers at Canadian universities.  Hagey's goal was the transformation of Waterloo College into a university with a particular focus on science and technology, and close links with industry through [[co-operative education]].

This idea proved somewhat controversial, and Hagey ultimately became the founding president of the [[University of Waterloo]] in 1957, when the science and engineering faculties he had established broke away from the rest of Waterloo College, which later became [[Wilfrid Laurier University]].

He retired in 1969 after the removal of his larynx due to cancer.<ref name="UWSCA" /><ref name="WPL" /> When Hagey retired he had helped the University of Waterloo grow from 75 students in two portable [[classroom]]s to a rambling [[campus]] worth $80 million and a [[student]] [[population]] of 9,000.  A building on the UW campus, the J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, is named in his honour.

In 1967 he received an honorary doctorate from [[Sir George Williams University]], which later became [[Concordia University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.concordia.ca/hagey|title=Honorary Degree Citation - J. Gerald Hagey* {{!}} Concordia University Archives|website=archives.concordia.ca|access-date=2016-03-30}}</ref>

In April 1986, he was invested as a member into the [[Order of Canada]].

Hagey was the great-grandson of Mennonite Bishop [[Joseph B. Hagey]] and the cousin of Brantford MPP [[Louis Hagey]].

==See also==
* [[List of University of Waterloo people]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://uwaterloo.ca/president/about-office-president/former-presidents Dr. J.G. Hagey - President 1958-1969] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016015448/https://uwaterloo.ca/president/about-office-president/former-presidents |date=2017-10-16 }}

{{Presidents of the University of Waterloo}}
{{University of Waterloo}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagey, Gerry}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian people of American descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Presidents of the University of Waterloo]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Waterloo, Ontario]]
[[Category:Academics from Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:University of Western Ontario alumni]]

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