Albert Grauer

Albert Edward "Dal" Grauer (1906–1961) was a prominent Canadian businessman, economist, scholar and intellectual.

Early life and education Grauer was born on his family's dairy farm in the area of Eburne, British Columbia, then located on Sea Island and now part of Richmond, British Columbia. He was one of nine surviving children of Johann Jakob (John) Grauer and Marie Neth Grauer, who emigrated from Germany. The family moved to Vancouver when he was six. He attended the then Model School and King Edward High School, both in Vancouver. Grauer competed in basketball and lacrosse while at UBC. Along with his brother Carl Grauer, he was a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Team at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

After UBC, he began a teaching fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley while working towards a PhD in economics. While there, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he studied law at the University College. He was captain of the Lacrosse Team at Oxford.

He articled with the firm of E. P. Davis & Co. in Vancouver and was called to the bar in early 1931.

Career In 1931, he accepted an offer to lecture in economics and political science at the University of Toronto. By 1937, at the age of 31, he became a full professor at the University of Toronto and headed its Department of Social Science. It was reported he was the youngest full professor in Canada at the time.

Grauer was noted for setting the course of a $650-million post-war expansion of BC Electric, making it one of the most successful private utility companies in North America. During his tenure, hydro-electric generation in British Columbia tripled. He spearheaded the transfer of natural gas from the province's Peace River region to the Lower Mainland and the creation of an underwater transmission cable to Vancouver Island. As of 2026, it is a Vancouver heritage building, significant for its aesthetic values and its role in making Modernist design prominent in the city in the 1960s.

On the day of Grauer's funeral, August 1, 1961, the BC provincial government announced it was expropriating BC Electric to make it a publicly owned utility. It became a crown corporation known as BC Hydro. Community In 1957, he became chancellor and chair of the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia. He was involved in numerous community activities, including as chairman of the board of trustees of Vancouver General Hospital and three terms as president of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He was said to have a dry sense of humour and sometimes enjoyed playing chess.