Sylvia Ostry, CC, OM, FRSC (born June 3, 1927) is a Canadian economist and public servant.
Born Sylvia Knelman in Winnipeg, Manitoba on June 3, 1927, she received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from McGill University in 1948, a Master of Arts from McGill in 1950, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University and McGill in 1954.
From 1952 to 1955 she was a lecturer at McGill, becoming an assistant professor from 1952 to 1955, and becoming Associate Professor at the Université de Montréal from 1962 to 1964.
From 1972 to 1975, Ostry was Chief Statistician of Canada at Statistics Canada. From 1975 to 1978, Ostry was Deputy Minister, Consumer and Corporate Affairs. From 1978 to 1979, she was Chairman, Economic Council of Canada. From 1979 to 1983, she was Head of the Department of Economics and Statistics of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. From 1984 to 1985 she was Deputy Minister, International Trade, and Coordinator, International Economic Relations. Later, in 1986 Ostry became a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.
From 1991 to 1996, she was Chancellor, University of Waterloo. In 1997 she was appointed Chancellor Emerita, University of Waterloo.
Since 1997, she has been the Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies.
She was married to the late Bernard Ostry, by whom she has two children.
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| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by J. Page Wadsworth |
Chancellor of the University of Waterloo 1991–1997 |
Succeeded by Val O'Donovan |