Maynard Gertler, born 1916, passed away in Montreal on April 19, 2011. Gertler studied Mental and Moral Philosophy at Queen’s University, completing graduate work in Economics at Columbia University, where he met his wife Ann Straus. Ann and Maynard ... »
Maynard Gertler, born 1916, passed away in Montreal on April 19, 2011. Gertler studied Mental and Moral Philosophy at Queen’s University, completing graduate work in Economics at Columbia University, where he met his wife Ann Straus. Ann and Maynard married in 1943 and had five sons. Maynard had several careers during his lifetime: he was the president of a documentary film company The World Today, in New York; he worked as an economist for the U.S government during the Second World War; he taught U.S. history at Cambridge; and he was a farmer most of his life. Maynard and Ann were owner-operators of farms in Little Washington, VA, Lancaster County, PA and Williamstown, Ontario. He was active in the Canadian Human Rights Foundation and was a former president of the Canadian Chapter of Amnesty International. Returning to Montreal from Cambridge in 1958, he founded Harvest House Publishers with Ann which ran for the next 40 years. He served as president of Amnesty International Canada, as vice-president of PEN Canada; and as a board member of the Raoul Wallenberg International Movement for Humanity. In 2002, his achievements were recognized with the Order of Canada (Canada's highest civilian honor) and the Queen's University Alumni Achievement Award.
