Walter Henry Gage, (March 5, 1905 – October 3, 1978) was a Canadian professor and educational icon, widely acknowledged to have had a large impact on students during his 50 year career at the University of British Columbia, where he rose from undergraduate student to university president. Personal Details Biography Walter Gage was born into a family in the middle-class neighbourhood of South Vancouver. His parents, Alexander and Ann, were immigrants from Great Britain and raised Walter and his older sister Elsie. They also influenced both the siblings on community and politics. Walter attended Tecumseh Elementary and John Oliver Secondary School in Vancouver and showed an early interest in his studies. As a teenager, he taught Sunday school and coached basketball. Gage was the first in his family to attend university when he enrolled in UBC in 1921, at the beginning of its development into one of Canada’s premier universities. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts, Honours in Mathematics, in 1925, and a Masters of Arts in Mathematics in 1926. ] He went on to teach mathematics at the University of British Columbia over a period of more than fifty years, from 1927 until his death in 1978, a span interrupted only when he taught mathematics at Victoria College (1927–1933) and served as its registrar (1929–1933). While continuing to teach mathematics to a wide range of students, he served as Dean of Administrative and Inter-Faculty Affairs and Dean of Inter-Faculty and Student Affairs. In those roles he was renowned for helping students, personally as well as through his office, in an effort to assure that capable students would not be denied a university education because of personal adversities or financial hardship. ] Walter Gage served as the 6th President of the University of British Columbia during a turbulent period of social change and growth (1969-1975) . In hindsight, his somewhat reluctant acceptance of the challenging leadership role was acknowledged by the 15th President as important to the university’s ability to weather the turbulence. Unlike other presidents, he loved teaching and continued to teach and inspire students before, during and after his term as President. His lifelong commitment to excellence in teaching was recognized in 1969 when he became the inaugural recipient of the university’s annual Walter Koerner Master Teacher Award. Gage helped thousands of students achieve their life goals, whether he was teaching them, counselling them on