William Arthur Parks. 1868-1936

Abstract

William Arthur Parks, Director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Palaeontology, and until recently Professor and Head of the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto, was born at Hamilton, Ontario , 11 December, 1868. He was the son of George Dyer Parks and Kate Snelgrove, formerly of Exeter, England. His early youth was spent at Hamilton and afterwards at Bowmanville where he attended the High School from which he matriculated in 1886. Two years later, after having some training and experience in teaching, he entered the University of Toronto , where he gained various scholastic successes and graduated in Natural Sciences in 1892. His first appointment was as chemist at Sudbury and Cleveland, Ohio, to the Canadian Copper Company, which has now developed in to the International Nickel Company. In 1893 he joined the staff of the University of Toronto as Geologist, and devoted the remainder of his life until his retirement just before his death to the service of that University. He rose from grade to grade, and on the retirement of Professor A. P. Coleman in 1922 he was made Head of the Department.