Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 144

Appendix:
Presidents Gallery

Richard Golding (Dick) Johnson
1951–1963
DCL’s first President was hand-picked for the job by the
Honourable C.D. Howe, having worked in the construction
industry and in government service for much of his career.
Born in Calgary in 1913, Dick Johnson received his
Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in
1933, and his Bachelor of Laws degree from the same
institution in 1935. After practicing law and working for a
trust company, he entered federal government service as a
solicitor in the Legal Branch of C.D. Howe’s Department of
Munitions and Supply in 1940. By 1944 he had become
director of the department’s Defence Projects Branch.
Dick left government service in 1945 and was appointed
general manager of the Canadian Construction Association.
When Defence Construction was created in 1950,
federal officials requested that Dick be loaned to the new
organization—the loan became official employment at DCL
on April 1, 1955.
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C.D. Howe had selected Dick Johnson for his credibility
with the industry—he was well respected by the business
community, despite his relatively young age of 37. He
proved a steady guiding hand for the organization through
its formation and the fast-paced projects of its first 12
years—some of the busiest of DCL’s existence. With the job
that he had been called upon to do largely complete, Dick
resigned as President in 1963, but remained involved with
the construction industry, later becoming President of the
Canadian Institute of Steel Construction and Chair of the
Canadian Construction Management Institute. He retired in
1978, and passed away in 2005.
In his obituary, Dick was remembered as “an innovative
builder, consummate administrator, artful conciliator, the
vanguard of the family, a man of wit and good taste, ever
the gracious host. And throughout his life: ‘always a
gentleman.’” This was certainly the man that DCL knew
as President.
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA