Henry Hicks

Hicks, Henry Davies

Henry Davies Hicks, lawyer, politician, university president, philatelist, premier of NS 1954-56 (b at Bridgetown, NS 5 Mar 1915; d at St Croix, NS 9 Dec 1990). Educated at Mount Allison, Dalhousie and Oxford (where he was a Rhodes scholar) and an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery 1941-45, Hicks, a Liberal, was elected to the NS legislature in 1945. Minister of education 1949-55, he implemented a system of regional and vocational schools. In 1954, after the death of Prem Angus L. MACDONALD and a brief period with H.J. CONNOLLY as premier, Hicks was elected premier by a badly split party. He became leader of the Opposition in 1956.

He resigned from the legislature in 1960 to become dean at Dalhousie and then president 1963-80. President of the Canadian Commission to UNESCO 1963-67 and member of the Canada Council 1963-67, he was appointed to the Senate in 1972. Hicks was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1970.