Eric Lafferty Harvie

Eric Lafferty Harvie, OC (2 April 1892 – 11 January 1975) was a Canadian lawyer and oilman. Holding mineral rights to large quantities of land in the Edmonton area, Harvie made a fortune after the oil discoveries at Leduc in 1947 and Redwater in 1948. After 1955 Harvie devoted himself primarily to cultural and philanthropic endeavors. He is best remembered as the founder of the Glenbow Museum, which opened in 1966.

Eric Lafferty Harvie was born on 2 April 1892 in a house located at 136 Matchedash Street in Orillia, Ontario to William McLeod Harvie and Elizabeth Cecile "Cicely" Lafferty. Eric was the fourth of five children, Alan, Ruth, and Jean his elders, and Dane his junior. William Harvie (1856-1919) was a dentist in Orillia who served as they town mayor from 1891 to 1892, and Cicely Harvie (1859-1940) was a school teacher. Eric Harvie was a fourth-generation Canadian. His great grandfather, John Harvey (1788-1872), had immigrated to Canada from Caldermill, Scotland in 1832 with his wife Agnes Miller (1790-1863). The Harveys landed in Montréal and ended up settling in the Orillia area. Eric Harvie's parents married in 1883. For an unknown reason, Cicely demanded that William - whose last name at this time was spelled "Harvey" - change the spelling to "Harvie" prior to their marriage.

Eric Harvie first visited Calgary in 1905, travelling with his mother to visit her siblings Janet and James Lafferty, both of whom had moved west. James was a doctor and served on Calgary's first city council, and Janet was married to the lawyer James Short. Harvie graduated high school in 1911 and entered into the Articles of Clerkship with John Thomas Mulcahy. Shortly thereafter Harvie was admitted into the Law Society of Upper Canada. Not long after joining Mulcahy, however, Harvie had decided to move to Calgary, and wrote a letter to the Law Society of Alberta asking to be admitted as a student. On 25 January 1912 Harvie was accepted. In Calgary, Harvie lived with James Lafferty and began articling at James Short's office, Short, Ross and Selwood. Harvie completed his intermediate examinations in the springs of 1913 and 1914 and his finals in the spring of 1915. On 30 June 1915, Harvie was granted his interim certificate, and received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta on 10 May 1916, in absentia.

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