James Ditson Service

James Ditson Service, QC (1926 – August 1, 2014) was a lawyer, co-founder of CHIN Radio, property developer and the first mayor of North York, Ontario as well as its last reeve.

Service was born in Toronto, where he attended North Toronto Collegiate and the University of Toronto. He then attended Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar in 1954. He was a practicing lawyer for 44 years and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1983. As reeve, he led the second-largest municipality in Metropolitan Toronto after the Old City of Toronto. North York was also the fourth largest municipality in Canada at the time. As well as being reeve, Service was also a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Council as well as Metro's executive committee.

In June 1969, he proposed building a domed stadium on surplus land belonging to Downsview Airport. Though he had the support of North York's council, he was unable to secure the land from the federal government or funding for the project from the federal and provincial governments. Service did not run for re-election in the December 1969 election.

As a property developer, Service and his partner built townhouses in London, Ontario and an apartment building in St. Catharines, Ontario, as well as a townhouse in Don Mills and a subdivision in Aurora, Ontario. His involvement in property development led critics to accuse him of being in a conflict of interest as reeve, and then mayor, but he was cleared of impropriety by the courts in 1967.

Service partnered with Johnny Lombardi to buy Radio 1540 Ltd from Ted Rogers in order to found radio station CHIN-AM. In his capacity as a lawyer, he drafted CHIN's successful application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for CHIN-FM. Later that year, Lombardi bought Service and the other partner out.

Service and several partners bought land in Etobicoke to create the Highland Curling Club in 1961, with Service having the responsibility for the construction of the building.