Vincent Massey

Charles Vincent Massey was the scion of Toronto's Massey manufacturing family and brother of actor Raymond Massey. Serving as Canada's first diplomatic minister to Washington (1926–1930) and Canadian High Commissioner to Britain during World War II, Massey was a sophisticated diplomat and passionate patron of the arts.

From 1949 to 1951, he chaired the historic Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (the Massey Commission), which created the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Library. In 1952, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent appointed Massey the first Canadian-born Governor General, a transformative break from British aristocratic tradition.