Mearns family ties to UVic span four decades

Bill Mearns

Bricks, mortar and steel may be the building blocks of institutions such as UVic, but it’s the far-reaching vision of individuals such as William C. Mearns that actually create them.

In 1956, when the Victoria College Council was leading the drive to establish a university in Victoria, it was Mearns who urged them to acquire a former army training camp and property owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company and the City of Victoria that together became the UVic campus.

The Victoria Chamber of Commerce agreed with Mearns and appointed him to a committee of community leaders established to pursue his vision.

After the Gordon Head site was chosen as UVic’s future campus, the Chamber of Commerce championed a fundraising initiative which raised an unprecedented $5 million to purchase the property Mearns had identified. UVic remains the only university in Canada to have purchased its own land.

Mearns’ influence on business, government and education spanned a good part of a century. As a young man, he earned degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford, and, later, in advanced management from Harvard. Starting his career as a meter man with B.C. Electric, the precursor of B.C. Hydro, he rose to vice president and senior executive director with B.C. Hydro.

Later, W.A.C. Bennett appointed Mearns chairman of the B.C. Harbours Board when it developed the super-port at Roberts Bank. He was also a founding director of the Bank of British Columbia.

Mearns met his wife Loula while both attended Victoria College. The couple were strong supporters of UVic and participated in many university events over the years. Mearns died in 1998. The family’s involvement with UVic spans four decades and continues today through the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning.

Return to main story : Donor and government fund centre for learning »