Lincoln Mac Cauley Alexander
January 21, 1922 - October 19, 2012
Born in Toronto in 1922, later living in Hamilton as he served Canada as a Member of Parliament, in the House of Commons, as the Federal Minister of Labor. And later as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1985 - 1991.
Lincoln Alexander was the first black Lieutenant Governor, MP and Cabinet Minister.
He will be honoured during a week of tributes starting Sunday at Queen’s Park and culminating in a state funeral Friday in Hamilton.
Alexander, whose death at age 90 was announced last Friday, will lie in state in the lobby of the main legislative building starting Sunday.
Around 12:30 p.m. Alexander will arrive accompanied by his wife Marni and members of the family where they will be greeted by Lt.-Gov. David Onley and Premier Dalton McGuinty. Other dignitaries and invited guests will pay their respects through the afternoon until members of the public are welcomed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The public will again be allowed to pay their respects between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday.
He will then lie in repose at Hamilton City Hall — a city he represented as an MP for 11 years — from Tuesday to Thursday with the public being invited to pay their respects between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day.
The state funeral is scheduled for Friday and Hamilton Place. Further details will be released later in the week.
Alexander, the son of a railway porter from St. Vincent and a mother from Jamaica was born and raised in Toronto.
“I was born in 1922, at a time when blacks weren’t recognized and when people thought blacks were born to be servants and porters,” Alexander told Sun Media on his 85th birthday.
He served in the RCAF in World War II and graduated from Osgoode Law School in 1953.
He was recruited by Progressive Conservative leader John Diefenbaker to run in the 1965 election but didn’t win a seat until the next election three years later.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney named him Ontario lieutenant-governor in 1985, a position he held until 1991.
He remained active in later years and was a figure often seen around Queen’s Park and working charitable causes.
--Source: Toronto Sun
