June 3, 2015

Finest Hour 112, Autumn 2001

Page 41


Bernie Webber, ICS (Canada)

Bernard Webber, President and Chief Executive Officer 11 f i lie Insurance Information Ceniii of Canada, has been active in ihi Canadian technology industry u senior levels for 30 years. The IK C is a national technology and information organization whose member companies provide more than 95 percent of the private and public property and casualty insurance sold in Canada. Here, Bernie’s concentration has been on revitalizing the technology thrust of property and casualty associations. Prior to his arrival at the IICC in 1997, he was President and CEO of the Facility Association (FA), Canada’s P&C residual market for automobile insurance coverage. Over a span of 26 years he has held a number of senior positions with the Ontario Civil Service.

Bernie Webber was President of the Other Club of Ontario from 1992 through 1999; its twice-yearly “Evenings with Sir Winston” are often hosted by Bernie at his club, the historic Royal Canadian Military Institute. He was also finance chairman for the 1994 Calgary and 1997 Toronto Churchill conferences, where he played a critical role in keeping those expensive events in the black.

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Any note about Bernie really must include his wife Jeanette, who has been the faithful membership secretary of ICS Canada for several years. Jeanette receives, checks, stuffs, stamps and posts Finest Hour and other publications to members from the Maritimes to the Yukon. Jeanette and Bernie are both very active in our joint dinners with the Albany Club of Toronto, planning the event and paying tribute to Churchill. They also attend most international conferences and were looking forward to San Diego as this was written.

Bernie is known to have an encyclopedic memory of things Churchillian and is the person we go to whenever a reference is needed. His hobby is book collectingโ€”Churchill and the Royal Navy, particularly World War II.

Bernie has also contributed his time and expertise to a variety of Salvation Army endeavours. He is past chairman of their Advisory Council on Corrections and Justice in Metropolitan Toronto, past chairman of the Advisory Council of Broadview Village, and is currently chairman of the Corrections and Justice Advisory council at the national level. He is chairman of the Board of Directors of Radio Station CJRT (91.1 FM), and a mentor with the Rotman Mentorship Program at the University of Toronto.

Bernie and Jeanette are a warm, giving couple committed to ICS Canada and Sir Winston’s legacy. โ€”Randy Barber

Fred LocWood, ICS (UK)

Fred grew up in the West Riding of Yorkshire during the dire years of the Depression, but was allowed to stay at school until the age of 16, when he sat for an examination that resulted in his appointment to the War Office as a clerical officer. This was a “reserved” occupation when war broke out in 1939, but Fred evaded his exemption and secured a cadetship and then a commission with the 4th Indian Division (famous in the Eighth Army as the “Red Eagles”). It was in North Africa, during the headlong pursuit of Rommel, that Fred experienced the magic of Winston Churchill: “Addressing a group of us somewhere south of Tripoli he concluded, ‘You nightly pitch your westering tents a day’s march nearer home!’ I was hooked!”

After the war Fred climbed through the Civil Service in various appointments ranging from managing Ammunition Procurement to negotiating terms for die employment of civilians by the Forces on the European Continent. “In another appointment in the War Office I was responding to the decisions of WSC in his second Administration and, on one occasion, had to bat for him on a distinctly sticky wicket!”

A spell with NATO as its man in London, and frequent visits to Norfolk, Virginia, consolidated Fred’s connection with the USA. NATO also sent him to the Flag and General Officers’ course at the U.S. Navy Postgraduate College in Montereyโ€”an experience he drew upon when called upon to contribute to the syllabus of the UK National Defence College.

After more years in the Ministry of Defence (as deputy to a General responsible for deployment of the Army worldwide), Fred became, “most surprisingly,” the UK Government’s “response” to a request from the Sultan of Oman for an official to help put the Omani Defence Ministry in order.

There followed 14 very satisfying years in Oman. Fred likes to sum them up by the British Embassy’s citation for his CBE, which concluded: “By his hard work, skill and good humour, he has contributed enormously to the maintenance and the close and warm relationship between Oman and Britain in the defence field.”

Fred retired from that employment in 1993 and was retained for some years as a consultant by British firms that did business in the Persian Gulf region.He is now fully retired after sixty years of working life.

When Nigel Knocker assumed chairmanship of ICS United Kingdom, he asked Fred to join his Committee, since the two had worked together in several capacities in Oman. Fred accepted with alacrity: “I had long been aware of the tremendous significance of Churchill’s life, and the opportunity to help project his values into the future was too good to miss.”

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