Historian, administrator.
Born at Wadena, Saskatchewan on 10 June 1927, son of Abraham Ostry and Tobbie Goldman, he attended St. John’s Technical High School (1940-1943). He received a BA degree from the University of Manitoba (1948) then did postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics (1948-1952). He was a research associate at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham (1951-1955) and a Fellow in International History at the London School of Economics (1956-1958). He co-write, with Henry Stanley Ferns, a biography of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King entitled The Age of Mackenzie King: The Rise of the Leader (1955).
He returned to Canada in 1961 to become Secretary-Treasurer for the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada, serving until 1963. He was a moderator for the CBC program Nightline (1960-1963), a supervisor for the Department of Public Affairs at CBC (1963-1968), Chief Consultant to the Canadian Radio Television Commission (1968-1969), Commissioner for the Task Force on Government Information (1968-1970), Assistant Under Secretary of State (1970-1973), and Deputy Minister in several federal and Ontario provincial ministries (1974-1985). In 1985, he became Chair and CEO of TVOntario, retiring in 1992. In recognition of his service, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba (1997).
In 1956, he married Sylvia Knelman in London, England and they had two sons.
He died at Toronto, Ontario on 24 May 2006.
“Former public servant and economist Sylvia Ostry dies at 92,” Toronto Star, 7 May 2020.
Bernard Ostry (1927-2006), Geni.
We thank Sue Gibb for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 May 2025
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