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Description area
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History
Originally from Toronto, Gordon Frederick Townsend (1915-1988) graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) with a BSA in 1938 and an MSA in 1939. He also obtained an M.Sc under Sir Frederick Banting. Hired by the OAC’s Department of Apiculture as a research associate in July 1939, Professor Townsend would serve as head of the department from 1942 to 1972. He was also appointed Provincial Apiarist and was influential in administrating the Bees Act of Ontario.
Professor Townsend was influential in initiating beekeeping in northern Ontario and introduced the black locust tree to Ontario from Europe to improve nitrogen fixation and honey production. He was also instrumental in adapting sulfa drugs to treat the American Foulbrood bee disease during the Second World War. Professor Townsend’s other contributions include the OAC Continuous Flow Honey Pasteurizer and the OAC Pressure Strainer. He was also heavily involved in apiculture extension work with beekeepers in Africa, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Russia, and helped to establish a beekeeping co-operative in Kenya.
Professor Townsend was honoured with a lifetime membership in the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association in 1980, named Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph in 1981, and was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame posthumously in 1990.