We regret to advise of the death of Captain Derrick Humphreys (Ret’d) on 6 August 2006 at the age of 92 years.
Born in Croydon, England, Derrick immigrated to Australia as a young man. After graduating from the West Australia School of Mines in Kalgoorlie, he worked as a mining engineer, a mining company manager, and the Inspector of Mines at Broken Hill, New South Wales. During the Second World War he served in the Australian Army in New Guinea and the South Pacific. After the war he managed a De Beers industrial diamond plant in South Africa before moving to Edmonton in 1950 to run an oilfield equipment company. Subsequently, he joined Trans-Mountain Oil Pipeline Company and then Fabco Manufacturing in Vancouver. Thereafter, Derrick consulted on projects that ranged from peat moss processing in the Queen Charlotte Islands, mining in Brazil, to rebuilding the town of Churchill.
Derrick was a Life Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy. Between 1956 and 1986 Derrick held elected office on the North Shore of Vancouver serving as Alderman in North Vancouver and then West Vancouver. In 1978, Derrick was elected Mayor of West Vancouver and served until 1986. He represented West Vancouver as a director of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The Provincial government appointed Derrick as Chairman of BC Transit where he oversaw the planning and initial building of the Skytrain system. In recognition of his many contributions to the community, he was made a Freeman of West Vancouver in 1995.
Derrick founded the Royal Canadian Engineer Cadet Corps in North Vancouver, was a founding Director of Junior Achievement of BC and worked to create the West Vancouver Foundation. At various times, he was president of the West Vancouver Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, chairman of the West Vancouver Masonic Hall Society, president of the West Vancouver Kiwanis Club, president of the West Vancouver Lawn Bowling Club, a Life Member of the Royal Society of St. George, a Life Member of the Terminal City Club, a National Director of the Progressive Conservative Party, a member of the National Parole Board, and a member of the B.C. Gaming Commission.
A Memorial Service will be held on 23 August at St. Stephen's Anglican Church, 885 22nd Street, West Vancouver. In lieu of flowers, donations to the West Vancouver Foundation are encouraged.{gdSept2015kh}