Peter Bentley

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Peter John Gerald Bentley (born March 17, 1930) is a Canadian businessman and the third Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia.

Born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Leopold Bloch-Bauer and Antoinette Ruth Pick, his family fled Vienna in 1938 and settled in British Columbia. His father, who changed his name to Leopold "Poldi" Bentley, founded a furniture and paneling veneer company called Pacific Veneer with his broher-in-law John Prentice, that later became Canfor Corporation, an integrated forest products company.

In 1970, he became Executive Vice-President of Canfor Corporation, becoming President in 1975. He became Chairman and CEO in 1985, a position he held until 1995. From July 1997 to January 1998, he was again President and CEO. He is currently Chairman of the Board. He was a director and is currently an honorary director of the Bank of Montreal, a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and a member of the board of directors of the Vancouver General Hospital & University of British Columbia Hospital Foundation.

In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for playing "an important role in manufacturing, business and finance in British Columbia." [1] He was awarded an honorary Law degree from the University of British Columbia.

In 2004, he was appointed Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia. In 2005, his family was awarded US$21.8-million in restitution payments for the theft of the family's sugar refinery in Austria.

He is married to Sheila Farrington McGiverin and has five children: Barbara Ruth, Susan Patricia, Joan Katherine, Lisa Marie, and Michael Peter.