Donald Hugh Mackay

Donald Hugh Mackay (March 22, 1914 – January 26, 1979) was the 26th Mayor of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

He spent his youth in Calgary and Drumheller, receiving most of his public school education in
Drumheller. In the early 1930s, Mackay settled with his family in Calgary. He was employed first by the Calgary Albertan and later for the radio station CJCJ. By 1943, at the age of twenty-nine, he was Manager of Station CJCJ. In his early adulthood MacKay joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He remained a particiapating member of the Church the rest of his life.

In 1945, he ran for City Council and was elected, topping the polls for that year. Three years later, as Alderman, Mackay led the Calgary contingent on its high-spirited and much publicized visit to the Grey Cup in Toronto, an occasion generally credited with starting the tradition of Grey Cup reverie.where he rode a horse into The Royal York Hotel, a tradition that has continued each time Calgary is in the Grey Cup In 1949, he was elected Mayor, serving in that capacity for ten years, a period in which the City witnessed tremendous growth. A self-proclaimed civic-booster, Mackay traveled, widely promoting Calgary.

In 1949 and 1957, he made two unsuccessful bids in Federal politics. In 1962, he joined the Downtown Development Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona and later, worked for the Calgary Convention Centre and the realty firm of Cowley and Keith. Mackay died after a stroke on January 26, 1979.

References

Category:1914 births
Category:1979 deaths
Category:Mayors of Calgary
Category:Calgary city councillors
Category:Converts to Mormonism
Category:Canadian Latter Day Saints
Category:Candidates in the 1949 Canadian federal election
Category:Candidates in the 1957 Canadian federal election
Category:Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States