Paul Trussell

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH
Paul Trussell was born in Vancouver in July 1916 but grew up in Trail, where his father worked at the Cominco Smelter.
After graduation from Trail High School in 1934, he attended UBC, earning a degree in Agriculture. During 1939-40, Paul worked for the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, now Cominco. Following UBC, he attended Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin, where he obtained a P.H.D. in Agricultural Bacteriology in 1943.

Following graduation, he took up a research position at Ayerst, McKenna & Harrison, a pharmaceutical company based in Montreal, as a Research Biologist. In 1947, Paul gained employment with the BC Research Council in Vancouver, where he remained until his retirement in 1980.

In 1961, Paul became Director In Charge of the BC Research Council, and rapidly put BC Research on a sound financial footing, with the majority of its funding coming from competitively-won private contracts, rather than government grants.

In 1963, he was invited to New York City to a United Nations meeting, organized by the Centre of Industrial Development. The purpose was to lay groundwork for the transfer of information, and this developed into a new field of contract work. For 15 years, he was closely involved with the initial formation of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Organizations, and was its Director for 8 years. Paul also served on the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. In 1970, Paul was the First Secretary General of the World Association of Industries and Technological Organizations. In 1973, he did an evaluation for the U.N. of the Industrial Research Operations in Turkey, this was followed in 1974 by similar studies in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

After retirement from BC Research in 1980, Paul served on international forestry missions, one to China in 1981 and another to Jamaica in 1982.

In 1990, Paul established a scholarship for science students, who have completed secondary schooling in the Kootenay-Boundary area. Paul’s initial contribution of $100,000 was matched by the BC Government, and the Vancouver Foundation contributed $75,000.

In 1979, Paul was able to purchase land in West Arrow Park, originally homesteaded by his father and where he had spent all the summers of his youth. Up until 1997, Paul and his wife spent half of the year at their Arrow Park property, and the other half at their home in Vancouver. Paul passed away in his sleep on May 6, 2001, Paul married Helen Dryer, and they have two sons, Richard and Devin.