Frederick B. (Ted) Wickwire, BCOM, LL.B. '62, QC, CM

Frederick B. (Ted) Wickwire’s life has been marked by great personal integrity, a commitment to excellence, and service to his profession, his university and the wider community.  He is widely respected in the legal profession for his sound judgment and professionalism.

He was educated in Halifax, graduating from Dalhousie University in 1959 with his Bachelor of Commerce and in 1962 with his law degree.  A noted university athlete, he captained the football team and was a member of the basketball team winning Male Athlete of the Year and the Climo Award.  He was chairman of the Advisory Council on Athletics for three years and was involved with several other policy-making councils and committees on athletics during his university days.  Later he served for thirteen years as a member of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie University.

He was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1962.  A senior partner with the Halifax law firm of MacInnes Wilson Flinn Wickwire, he practiced primarily in the areas of corporate and commercial law, real property and litigation.  In 1978 he received his Queen’s Counsel appointment.

The Nova Scotia Government appointed him to chair a Task Force on Dentistry in 1972 which led to the establishment of a provincial dental programme for children and the regulation of the practice of denturists in Nova Scotia.  Recognizing the province lacked solid medical research resources, he founded a Nova Scotia chapter of Canadians for Medical Research.  Its aim was to foster and develop top flight medical research in the region with security of funding.

As an early and active supporter of legal aid to extend legal services to those less advantaged, Mr. Wickwire coordinated the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s Halifax Volunteer Legal Programme in the 1970’s.  Later, he was a member, then chairman of its Legal Aid Committee.  When the Province created the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission he was appointed its first chairman.

Most recently he chaired the Legal Ethics Committee of the Society and steered its major project, the development and 1990 production of the Handbook on Ethics and Professional Conduct, to completion.  In June, 1990, he was elected president of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society.  He held that office at the time of his death, 22 March, 1991, aged 52 years.

Ted Wickwire was the son of Frances R. (Beatteay) and William N. Wickwire ’29, Q.C.  His first wife, Isabel MacAlpine, and his father predeceased him.   He is survived by his mother, his wife, Eve (Smith), and their children, Wendy and Peter, Donald, Ted and Janet and his two sisters.

The 1991 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service honours Ted Wickwire’s lifetime achievements and efforts towards the betterment of standards in the legal profession, the extension of legal services to all Nova Scotians and his activities in support of medical research and service to his community.