Albert E. Berry

Albert E. Berry

Teacher, Volunteer and Leader in Canadian Public Health Engineering

Dr. Albert E. Berry made a great contribution to public health engineering in Canada. He was born in St. Mary’s, Ontario and graduated from the Faculty of Applied Science at the University of Toronto in 1917. He served with the Royal Canadian Engineers during World War I, after which he worked many years with the Ontario Department of Health and with the Ontario Water Resources Commission. He continued his education and he received a master’s degree (1921) and a Doctorate (1926) from the University of Toronto, while working as a sanitary engineer with the Ontario Department of Health. In 1926, he became Director of the Division of Sanitary Engineering in that Department. When the Ontario Water Resources Commission was formed in 1956, Dr. Berry was appointed General Manager and Chief Engineer. Dr. Berry was fondly remembered by hundreds of graduate students at the School of Hygiene of the University of Toronto, where he was Associate Professor (part-time) of Environmental Sanitation. Dr. Berry generously volunteered his service to CPHA, which became the certificating body for sanitary inspectors and inaugurated a correspondence course in 1933. Dr. Berry also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Section of the American Water Works Association, and of the Canadian Institute on Pollution Control. He was President of the Water Pollution Control Federation, President of the American Water Works Association and Vice-President of the Engineering Institute of Canada. Dr. Albert E. Berry was awarded CPHA’s Honorary Life Membership in 1966.

(Canadian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 57, June 1966)