Jean Newman

Jean Dorothy Newman (1905 in Née Reading – October 4, 1971) was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the vice-chairman of the Toronto Board of Control and president of the Toronto City Council. She was the first woman elected to Toronto’s Board of Control and the first woman to run for Mayor of Toronto.

Family and personal life

Early life and education Jean Dorothy Newman was born in 1905 at El Paso, Texas. Her father, W. G. Reading was a chief dispatcher for the Southern Pacific Railway. Her mother, Mrs. W. G. Reading, was a business woman who specialized in real estate. Newman's maternal grandfather, Donald Mackay Gordon, emigrated to Canada from Scotland. He served as Mayor of Wingham and built the first brick house in Listowel.

In her free time, she made oil paintings. She had multiple exhibitions, and her house is home to a collection of both her own work and that of other Canadian artists. She had always been a public speaker, winning gold and silver medals in public speaking competitions.

Later life and death After the loss of the By election, Newman retired from politics and focused her attention on charitable work. In 1968, her husband died and in 1970, she got remarried to Ian Urquhart, taking on the name Jean Newman-Urquhart. Newman died a year later, in 1971 from a stroke. She was 66.