Desmond Pacey
| Desmond Pacey | |
|---|---|
| Native name | William Cyril Desmond Pacey |
| Born |
May 1, 1917 Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Died | July 4, 1975 (aged 58) Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Academic work | |
| Era | 1940-1975 |
| Main interests | Canadian history, Canadian Literature |
| Notable works | Creative Writing in Canada, Ten Canadian Poets |
| Influenced | Fred Cogswell |
William Cyril Desmond Pacey, FRSC (May 1, 1917 – July 4, 1975), was a pioneer of Canadian literary criticism. He was also a notable author of verse and short fiction and a long-time university administrator. He was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal by the Royal Society of Canada in 1972.
As chair of the University of New Brunswick English Department in the 1940s, Pacey worked closely with Roy Daniels of the University of British Columbia to initiate English PhD programs at both universities, effectively breaking the academic stranglehold the University of Toronto held on higher education in Canadian universities.
Desmond Pacey was born in 1917 in Dunedin, New Zealand to parents William and Mary. After his father was killed during the First World War, Pacey and his mother moved to England; in 1931, Mary married a Canadian farmer, and the family emigrated to Ontario, Canada.
As an undergraduate, Pacey attended the University of Toronto, where he earned a degree in English and Philosophy. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Cambridge, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1941.
Pacey began his academic career in 1940 when he accepted a post at Brandon University in Manitoba. In 1944, he accepted a position of chair of the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick, where he worked in various professorial and administrative capacities - as dean of graduate studies, as academic vice president, and as acting president - until his death in 1975.
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