Thompson, Eldon Dale

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1984
ELDON DALE THOMPSON
to be Doctor of Science

If, as Oscar Wilde has said, "all men have their faults and modesty is one of them," then Eldon Thompson is the most offending man alive. Offending certainly to a would-be Orator, because modesty is not the material out of which oratory can flourish. With that modesty, however, goes toughness and absolute integrity of character -- as the Board of Governors of this University and NBTel well know -- and, I understand, that when he heard of our intention to confer on him an honorary degree, he replied, "There must be some mistake."

Eldon Thompson was born in Fairville, New Brunswick and graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 1957. All attempts to probe for youthful escapades in his undergraduate career have met with brick wall comments that he was always top, or near the top, of his class. Either he was a model student in behaviour as well as academic achievement or there has been a conspiracy of silence.

Mr. Thompson's curriculum vitae is, on the face of it, as modest as his demeanour, but it is obvious, even in its brevity, that he has risen quickly to the top. One could not in fact get much higher than the aspirations of Telesat Canada, of which he is President. Yet, although he often watches the launchings at Cape Canaveral, he is not unaware of the more earthbound attractions of Coco Beach Village nearby. If he aims higher, God himself will have to find him his next job.

In witness of his many achievements, we note that he has been, not only President of Telesat, but President of the TransCanada Telephone System, President of the New Brunswick Telephone Company, member of the Fundy Tidal Power Review Board, a director of several other Canadian companies, and, to illustrate that he has not been a mere engineer, however exalted, I would add that he has been a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He has been loaned to the New Brunswick Government as a member of the Cabinet Secretariat and Secretary to the Treasury Board -- a loan which, unlike other government loans, seems to have repaid the taxpayer in full.

Behind the public figure which does not seek the glare of publicity, however, is a widely-read man whose personal pursuits lie deep in the soil of New Brunswick and in the seas around her coasts -- a man who owns land by the Bay of Fundy, loves duck hunting, loves lobster in and -- I am told -- out of season, and loves to sail his catamaran. News of his travels in foreign parts is almost as silent as the man himself, yet there were cryptic rumours of a window shattering in Paris, and the powerful effects of a Scandinavian liqueur.

Omar Khayyam exhorted us to "fill the Cup/Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." For Eldon Thompson, still a comparatively young man, there is yet much liquor in life's cup, and the only dry thing about him is his sense of humour.

So, we salute Eldon Thompson, a local man who has gone far beyond the bounds of his locality on his way to the stars.

Insignissime Praeses, amplissima Cancellaria tota Universitas, praesento vobis Eldon Dale Thompson ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradem Doctoris in Scientia in hac Universitate.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2