Harris, Cole, 1936-

Bob Harris was born in England in 1922. After he served with the Royal Engineers during World War II, he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of London in 1948. He was later married to Rita in July 1948 and sailed to Canada that same year. In 1950 Mr. Harris and his wife moved to Vancouver where he worked for 25 years for the Dominion Bridge Company. Then, in 1975 he moved to the structural engineering company of Buckland and Taylor where he remained until his death in 1998. He was responsible for the design and/or erection of several bridges in the Vancouver area, namely Granville, Ironworkers' Memorial, Oak Street and Port Mann Bridges. He was a member of the B.C. Mountaineering Club, North Shore Hikers, the Vancouver Naturalist Historical Society, and a volunteer Warden for Ecological Reserve Number 48. He was also commissioned to provide hiking trails (a total of 75) for B.C. Outdoors Magazine. R.C. (Bob) Harris was an engineer by profession but an historian at heart, who enjoyed the challenge of finding all the old trails in the field. He spent over 20 years visiting the Provincial Archives and the Department of Lands in Victoria, accumulating a large mass of maps, diaries and fieldbooks of the early explorers, surveyors and road builders, geologists and miners.

Richard Colebrook Harris was born in Vancouver on 4 July 1936. Harris post-secondary education consisted of studies at the University of British Columbia (BA, 1958), the University of Montpellier (1958-59), and the University of Wisconsin (MS, 1961 and PhD, 1964). His PhD thesis, "A Geography of the Seigneurial System in Canada during the French Regime, was supervised by A.H. Clark. Harris teaching positions included the following appointments: Lecturer (1963-1964) at UBC, Assistant Professor (1964-1968) and Associate Professor (1968-1971) at the University of Toronto, Lecturer in French (Summer 1967) at the University of Laval in French (Summer 1967), and Associate Professor (1971-1973) and Professor (1973-2002) at UBC. Harris research interests focused on European settlement in early Canada, particularly the nature of social change in immigrant societies in new environments and on geographies of colonialism in early British Columbia. In addition to teaching and researching, Harris served as President of the Canadian Association of Geographers (1985-1986) and was on the following editorial boards: Professional Geographer (1982-1986), Annals of Association of American Geography (1988-1992), and the Journal of Historical Geography (1975-1982). Additionally, he was president of the Vancouver Institute (1985-1986) and was Co-Editor of BC Studies (1995-2002). Harris has received the following awards and distinctions: Guggenheim Fellow, 1968-69; Canadian Council Leave Fellowship, 1975-1976; Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography, Canadian Association of Geographers, 1980; Senior Killam Fellow, 1982-84; Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, 1982; Prize for outstanding article in the Canadian Historical Review, 1985; Killam Research Prize, 1987; Gold Medal, Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 1988; Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association, 1988; Award of Merit, Association for Canadian Studies, 1988; Doctor of Law, Honoris Causa, York University, 1993; Centenary Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1994; Award of Distinction, Canadian Cartographic Association, 1994; David and Brenda McLean Chair of Canadian Studies, UBC, 1997-1999; Clio Award, Canadian Historical Association, 1998; Dean of Arts Prize, UBC, 1999; Just Desserts Award, Alma Mater Society, UBC, 2001; and Honorary Professor, Shaanxi Normal University, 2001.