Phyllis Ross

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Phyllis Gregory Ross, O.C., C.B.E., M.A., LL.D. (1903 – April 18, 1988) was a Canadian economist, civil servant, the first woman Chancellor of the University of British Columbia and in the Commonwealth of Nations, and the mother of the 17^th Prime Minister of Canada John Turner.

Born Phyllis Gregory in Rossland, British Columbia, she received a Bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of British Columbia. She studied at Bryn Mawr College, the London School of Economics, and the University of Marburg. ^[1] She married Leonard Turner in London, England. She had three children, one of which died. Her husband died when she was 29. ^[2] In 1945, she married Frank Mackenzie Ross, the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1955 to 1960.

She returned to Canada and settled in Ottawa where she was an economist with the Canadian Tariff Board, the Dominion Trade and Industry Commission, and the Wartime Prices and Trade Board, the most senior position a woman could hold at the time in the Canadian civil service. ^[2] Her contribution to helping the economy of Canada during World War II was recognized by being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. ^[1]

She remained involved with the University of British Columbia (UBC). She was a member of the UBC Senate from 1951 to 1954 and again from 1960 to 1966. In 1957, she was appointed to the Board of Governors and in 1961 was named Chancellor. ^[1]

In 1967, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for "her contributions as a public servant". ^[3] She was also a Dame of St. John of Jerusalem and as Dame of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta. ^[1]

She had Alzheimer's disease and died in her sleep in Saltspring Island in 1988. ^[2]