Pitman, Walter George

Persona

Pitman, Walter George

1929-

Walter George Pitman (born May 18, 1929) is an educator and former politician in Ontario, Canada. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1952 and a Master of Arts in 1954 from the University of Toronto.

His victory in a federal by-election held in Peterborough, Ontario in 1960 as a candidate for the New Party was a significant catalyst in the movement to refound the social democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation as the "New Democratic Party" (NDP). Pitman was a high school teacher when he was nominated by Peterborough's New Party Club to be their candidate in a 1960 by-election.

In the 1967 Ontario provincial election, Pitman won the Peterborough seat for the Ontario New Democratic Party. As a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), Pitman unsuccessfully ran to replace Donald C. MacDonald as leader of the provincial NDP. He came in second to Stephen Lewis at the 1970 Ontario NDP leadership convention. He lost his seat in the 1971 provincial election.

Following his electoral defeat, Pitman returned to education as director of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and later president of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto. Between his federal and provincial political careers, he was dean of arts and science at Trent University. Pitman is also a former president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was also awarded the Order of Ontario.

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