T.K. (Sandy) Warley was a giant of a man during and after his career as an agricultural economist at the University of Guelph. He frequently sent me helpful and insightful e-mails right up until his death on Sept. 10.
Our paths first crossed in the mid-1970 when he wrote a paper critical of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Marketing Board and I was agriculture reporter and columnist for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record.
Warley’s paper drew wrath from the marketing board, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the various and sundry marketing boards. They called for his dismissal from the University of Guelph.
Being a conservative, anti-marketing board columnist, I sympathized with Warley and said the critics were wrong to attack a professor simply because they did not like his research and opinions. Academic freedom ought to prevail, I argued.
We became friends.
But Warley was chastened and refrained from expressing his opinions about marketing boards ever after. At least publically. I hope he shared his views with students at Ontario Agriculture College where he was the chairman of the Agriculture Economics Department, then director of the School of Agriculture Economics and Extension Education.
Now Warley’s outstanding career is being honoured in a special edition of the University of Guelph’s FARE Share newsletter. There are tributes from many of his colleagues who honour his academic prowess, his friendships with colleagues and students, his wit and wisdom.
Prof.Getu Hailu, editor of FARE share,writesthat in 2003, Sandy received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree to recognize his pivotal role in the University’s growth.
His contributions were also recognized with the Alumni Volunteer Award in 2005.
In 2008, he was awarded the Lincoln Alexander Medal of Distinguished Service, which honours individuals who have made significant contributions in areas that have substantially improved the academic life, character and governance of the University.
In 2012, he was also the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to Ontario and Canada.
He was a giant.
