Harvey L. Webber, LL.B. '36, QC, CM
Harvey Webber has exhibited in superior measure the service to the community to which he is this year’s recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
Educated in Halifax, he gained his Dalhousie Law School LL.B. in 1936 and was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar. Choosing business rather than a career in law, he took over the retail clothing store his father had established in Sydney in 1904. Today he maintains this business, The Smart Shop Ltd., in addition to his other interest in mining, realty and finance. Through these years he has continued his membership in the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, and in 1984 he was made Q.C. for his lifetime of dedicated community service, an unusual honour for a non-practitioner. He became a member of the Order of Canada in 1987.
At Dalhousie Harvey Webber was a great University and inter-collegiate debater, Glee Club member, and actor with a community theatre group which took him to a national drama competition. These early activities have expanded into service to his community.
He helped bring summer theatre to Cape Breton, chaired the Community Concerts Association, was president of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra in Cape Breton, ad was instrumental in organizing the Kiwanis Club’s Music and Speech Festival. He was a governor of the Dominion Drama Festival, and he played violin in the Cape Breton Symphony.
From 1968 Mr. Webber was vice-chair of the Cape Breton Health Project and began the YMCA Businessmen’s Health Club. A long time executive member of the Sydney Tennis Club, he also assisted in the establishment of the Sydney Ski Club.
The Sydney Board of Trade and both the Atlantic Provinces and Canadian Chambers of Commerce have benefitted from Harvey Webber’s participation. As president of the former, he encouraged the establishment of the University College of Cape Breton, and as president and director of the Chambers of Commerce he organized support for the addition of a Minister of Small Business to the federal Cabinet. He promoted the Cape Breton Tourist Association and has been continuously active in local and national business associations.
He has been honoured by Israel’s Hebrew University, is a director of the Canadian associates of Tel Aviv University, and a national vice-president of ORT, the Organization of Rehabilitation through Training. He has chaired the Council of Christians and Jews, regional Canada Day celebrations, the Council for Canadian Unity and a highly successful Cape Breton County United Way campaign.
Amongst all his activities, one of the best know is his 1976 founding of the Atlantic Canada Plus program which identifies producers and products of eastern Canada and encourages consumers, businesses and governments to use them. Another nationally-recognized project is his founding of the Miners Museum in Glace Bay. He also chaired the development of its National Museum Centre and the recreation of a 1900 Miners Village home and, recently, the 20th anniversary fundraising campaign. Results of his efforts are also seen in the Sydney Sports Centre built with funds he and five other businessmen raised as a centennial gift to the City of Sydney.
A deeply-held desire to give something back to his community in return for the gifts he feels he has received, in his education and upbringing, his family, friends and in business, moves Harvey Webber to direct his great talents and energies to improving and enriching the local and larger communities. In all these efforts, Harvey has been supported by his wife, the former Ethel Nadler, and their children, Lawrence and Marlene.
Harvey L. Webber is a most deserving recipient of the 1990 Weldon Award.