Article

Fred Gardiner

Published Online February 14, 2008

Last Edited October 27, 2014

Frederick Goldwin Gardiner, lawyer, politician (b at Toronto 21 Jan 1895; d there 22 Aug 1983). A law graduate of Osgoode Hall (1920), Gardiner began his political career in 1936 as deputy reeve of Forest Hill, a suburban village in north Toronto.

Gardiner, Frederick Goldwin

Frederick Goldwin Gardiner, lawyer, politician (b at Toronto 21 Jan 1895; d there 22 Aug 1983). A law graduate of Osgoode Hall (1920), Gardiner began his political career in 1936 as deputy reeve of Forest Hill, a suburban village in north Toronto. An ardent proponent of municipal amalgamation, he was persuaded to become first chairman of Metropolitan Toronto in 1953.

Nicknamed "Big Daddy," he dominated municipal politics during a period in which Toronto "shrunk at the core and burst at the seams." He retired as chairman in 1961 and was appointed a Toronto Hydro commissioner in 1965, serving until 1979. A sharp debater and colourful speaker, he was also influential in the provincial and federal Conservative Party, and held several directorships of major corporations.