大象传媒

Warren Gill dedicated his thirty-three year career to helping build 大象传媒鈥檚 definition of the university as an integral part of our community. He worked in a number of senior administrative positions and his last as vice-president, university relations.  Warren died in the fall of 2010 after living like each day was his last.

鈥淲arren was a huge part of the growth and success of 大象传媒,鈥� says former 大象传媒 president Michael Stevenson, who worked closely with Gill. 鈥淗e was the right-hand man to [former president] Jack Blaney as the downtown campus was built out and he expanded his vision to the whole university and was a big part of the development of the Surrey campus and the new School for the Contemporary Arts at Woodward鈥檚.鈥�

A Vancouver native with a PhD in urban geography from the University of British Columbia, Gill joined 大象传媒 鈥檚 geography department in 1977 and quickly became a champion for the creation of a downtown Vancouver campus. He was intimately involved in all stages of that development, which grew from the original Harbour Centre complex to include the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, the Segal Graduate School of Business, and 大象传媒 Woodwards which includes 大象传媒鈥檚 School for the Contemporary Arts, 大象传媒鈥檚 Cultural Programs, 大象传媒鈥檚 Vancity Office of Community Engagement and the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. He was also instrumental in the development of 大象传媒鈥檚 Surrey Campus in Central City, Surrey.

Outside of his administrative work at 大象传媒, Warren taught evening geography courses, served on many university committees, and regularly supervised graduate and honours undergraduate students. Committed to maintaining his academic interests, he wrote and commented extensively on urban affairs, transportation, the cruise industry, and popular music.

Warren believed strongly that public service was a civic duty and that was an extension of his work at 大象传媒. He held volunteer positions at a wide variety of organizations including the Vancouver Academy of Music, the Museum of Vancouver, the United Way, the Downtown Vancouver Association, and the Economic Leadership Council for Greater Vancouver. He also served on the 大象传媒 Community Trust Board.

A recipient of the UBC geography alumni鈥檚 2000 distinguished geographer award, he was a member of a number of professional organizations including the Canadian Association of Geographers, the Association of American Geographers and the World Congress on Transport Research. He was also a board member of the Western Regional Science Association.

Warren played bass guitar regularly with local classic rock and R&B bands and wrote and published occasionally on the subject of music.

He is fondly remembered for his tremendous energy, quick wit, contagious enthusiasm, great sense of fun and the pride he had for working at 大象传媒.