It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing on September 13, 2012, in Calgary, of one of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law's most respected and beloved alumni: The Honourable Peter Lougheed (Class of '52). On behalf of the faculty, staff and students, the Faculty of Law extends its deepest condolences and sympathies to Peter Lougheed's family and friends.
"Mr. Lougheed was a great Canadian. He was also proud member of the U of A Law Class of 1952, a remarkable group of individuals that included his friend and Cabinet colleague Merv Leitch and Ivan Head, who served as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Trudeau. He was a generous supporter of the law school, and took a leading role in the establishment of the lecture series and scholarships that honour the memory of Mr. Leitch. He leaves an outstanding legacy to Alberta and the rest of Canada and we will miss his wise counsel and generosity of spirit. We join in extending our condolences to the Lougheed family at this sad time," said Philip Bryden, Wilbur Fee Bowker Professor and Dean of Law, at the University of Alberta.
Peter Lougheed, the tenth Premier of Alberta, was born in Calgary, on July 26, 1928. He served 14 years as Premier, from 1971 to 1985. Mr. Lougheed first arrived at the University of Alberta in the late 1940s to take his bachelor of arts. After completing his BA in 1950, he went onto to earn a bachelor of laws (LLB) in 1952. During his undergraduate years, he was an active and popular campus leader. He wrote for the Gateway, served as president of the Students' Union, and also played for the Golden Bears and then the Edmonton Eskimos for two seasons (1949 and 1950). The University of Alberta always held a place dear to Mr. Lougheed's heart as it was at the U of A that he met Jeanne Rogers, whom he married in 1952.
In 1954 he received his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Upon completion of his studies he returned to Alberta where he joined Fenerty, Fenerty, McGillivary Prowse & Brennan (now Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP). Mr. Lougheed joined Mannix Company Limited shortly thereafter in senior roles. He re-entered private legal practice in 1962.
In 1965, he was elected leader of the Alberta PC Party, a position he would hold for 20 years. Mr. Lougheed played a lead role in the federal-provincial battles in the 1970s and 1980s over repatriating the Constitution and negotiating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
"Peter Lougheed had a vision of Canada as well as Alberta, and his contributions during the constitutional negotiations in the early 1980s truly make him one of the key founders, or 're-founders', of modern day Canada," said Peter Carver, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, and former Board Chair of the Centre for Constitutional Studies.
After leaving public office, Mr. Lougheed served on the Board of Directors or Advisory Boards of 45 Canadian and international companies. He proudly lectured at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and the Banff Centre. He served as Chancellor of Queen's University from 1996-2002. Mr. Lougheed was a Partner at Bennett Jones LLP from 1985 until 1998 and remained as Counsel until the time of his death.
Mr. Lougheed has received many honours for his life work. The University of Alberta awarded Mr. Lougheed an honourary doctor of laws degree in 1986 for contributions to Alberta and Canada, and he was named to the U of A Sports Wall of Fame in 1987. In 1994, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award, the U of A's most prestigious award. Other awards and honours that he received included, the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. Mr. and Mrs. Lougheed were named honourary fellows of the Banff Centre and the Royal Conservatory of Music and, in June 2012, Mr. Lougheed was chosen as the Best Premier in the last 40 years by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
"It is a measure of the respect which he had earned that on his last visit to the University of Alberta Law School, three and a half years ago, a room of 150 law students, none of whom had known of him as premier, gave him a standing ovation when he entered the room," said Professor David Percy, Q.C. and Borden Ladner Gervais Chair in Energy Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta.
Mr. Lougheed lived in Calgary & Edmonton with his wife Jeanne where they raised their four children - Stephen, Andrea, Pam, and Joe. Peter and Jeanne have seven grandchildren.