Blok-Anderson, Uffe

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1990
UFFE BLOK-ANDERSEN
to be Doctor of Laws

When Uffe Blok-Andersen graduated from UNB in 1945, his colleagues confidently predicted that he would "be as successful in his future profession as in his days 'Up the Hill." Today, forty-five years later, we know him as a successful chemist, businessman, and staunch supporter of his university.

Born in Denmark, he came to Canada as a child and he grew up in northern New Brunswick where he learned to ski and skate, hunt and fish, and acquired his love of the out-of-doors. He went to school in Edmundston, won a Beaverbrook Scholarship for his outstanding record, and in 1941 entered UNB to study science. His years here were the war years, but the tiny student body of which he was part maintained a vigorous campus life and no one was busier than Uffe Blok-Andersen. He worked on the Brunswickan, played interclass hockey, swam with the Swimming Club, and in his final year played varsity football, served as president of the Chemical Society, and edited the yearbook.

He excelled moreover in his chosen field, Chemistry, and thus it was that, after his graduation, Dow Chemical offered him his first job in Sarnia Ontario. He stayed with Dow for ten years and then lived for three more in Michigan before returning to Canada to do what he had always wanted to do, establish his own chemical company. He built and for ten years successfully operated Uba Chemical Limited in Toronto. Since selling his chemical company, he has involved himself in other ventures including environmental technology, plastics, and land and building projects in Ontario and in California where he now lives part of every year. Still as active in the out-of-doors as he was in his youth, his passion now is golf and, if the reports are correct, he is a formidable player.

Most of Uffe Blok-Andersen’s success in life must be traced to his own considerable abilities, his inner drive and self-discipline, and his powerful sense that if you want something, you can achieve it. But it is a measure of his generosity that he also acknowledges the role played by UNB and the Beaverbrook Scholarship which permitted him to come here. As a result, he spearheaded a drive to locate former Beaverbrook scholars like himself and to organize with them a new scholarship fund to carry on and extend the tradition of helping gifted young New Brunswickers acquire a higher education. To him more than to anyone else goes the credit for establishing the Beaverbrook Scholars' Award, now in its tenth year.

For his success in chemistry and business and for his dedication to UNB, we honor him today.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2