Bert Hoffmeister

Major General Bertram Meryl Hoffmeister, (15 May 1907 – 4 December 1999) was a Canadian Army officer, businessman, and conservationist. He served with distinction during the last two years of the Second World War, becoming, in Jack Granatstein's words, "the best Canadian fighting general of the war", rising from captain and a company commander in 1939 to major general and commander of the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division in 1944.

Early life and career

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia to parents Louis and Flora, Hoffmeister was a sales manager with the Canadian White Pine Co. Ltd. in Vancouver. He enlisted with the Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM, the Canadian Army Reserve Force) in 1927. He was promoted captain in 1934. After he was promoted to major, in 1939, he was made officer commanding a company of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, who went to England in 1939, the year the Second World War began, as part of Andrew McNaughton's 1st Canadian Division.

Second World War

Hoffmeister attended the Canadian Junior War Staff courses at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. On 11 October 1942, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He received a Bar to his DSO the following year, in April, and another Bar in August.

Senior commanders of the First Canadian Army, May 1945. Seated from the left: Stanisław Maczek (Polish Army), Guy Simonds, Harry Crerar, Charles Foulkes, Bert Hoffmeister. Standing from the left: Ralph Keefler, Bruce Matthews, Harry Foster, Robert Moncel (standing in for Chris Vokes, Stuart Rawlins (British Army).

In October 1943, promoted to brigadier, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1947, he was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit.

Post-war

After the war, Hoffmeister became president of MacMillan Bloedel Limited in 1949 and was its chairman from 1956 to 1958. From 1958 to 1961, he was British Columbia's agent general in London. From 1961 to 1968, he was chairman of the Council of Forest Industries of British Columbia, an association for the British Columbia interior forest industry. From 1971 to 1991 he was the founding chairman of the Nature Trust of British Columbia, a non-profit land conservation organization.

In 1982, Hoffmeister was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.