Ken Morrish

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Ken Morrish (1919 – July 30, 2006), nicknamed "Mr. Highland Creek" was a Metro Toronto politician. He served the Scarborough, Ontario community as councillor, deputy Metro Toronto Chair and mayor of Scarborough. He is a descendant of the Morrish Family, who were one of the original pioneer settlers in Scarborough.

Morrish, 87, died Sunday, July 30, 2006 at his home following a disabling stroke about four years earlier.^[1]

1 The Early years
2 Scarborough politics
3 Trivia
4 Notes and references
5 External links
6 Political office

[edit] The Early years

When Ken was 18, he took responsibility of running the Morrish Store when his father died. The general store is located at the corner of Old Kingston Road and Meadowvale Rd. Based on his success, he constructed several other buildings in the Highland Creek area, including the Highland Creek Plaza at the corner of Morrish Road and Old Kingston Rd.

During World War II, he served as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

In 1945, he married Shirley, which whom he lived for 57 years.

[edit] Scarborough politics

Morrish also sat on Scarborough city council (and borough council), Metro Councillor for Scarborough Highland Creek and one time interim Mayor of Scarborough. Morrish was a legend in Scarborough and Metro Toronto politics and was dubbed the "Dean of Metro Toronto".

While Ken Morrish was councillor, he endorsed the construction of the Scarborough Expressway, which was a planned extension of the F.G. Gardiner Expressway from Coxwell Avenue to, eventually, the Highway 401 and Highway 2 merger on the border of Scarborough and Pickering. Unfortunately, by the mid 1990's plans have changed and the Gardiner Expressway merged north to the base of the Don Valley Parkway. ^[2]

In 1997, Ken Morrish retired from politics.^[3]

[edit] Trivia

He is the father-in-law to former Toronto city councillor and budget chief Tom Jakobek.
Morrish's other great love in life was owning, showing and racing horses.
In 1999, the group of softball diamonds at East Point Park was renamed "The Ken Morrish Softball Complex".^[4]