Robert Kerr

1930 - 2010  (80 years)

• Name	Robert Kerr
  Born	1930	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	founder of Imax
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-36898
  Died	29 Apr 2010	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I36898	Generations
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Robert Kerr was a founder of IMAX movies and a Cambridge political leader May 04, 2010 Record staff CAMBRIDGE - Robert Kerr was a no-nonsense politician and businessman who had the financial smarts needed to bring big-screen IMAX movies to theatres around the world. He died April 29 in Toronto at age 79. Without Kerr's business sense \emdash and stellar reputation \emdash IMAX would have died in its early years, said Graeme Ferguson, company co-founder and Kerr's friend since they were teenagers. In any other city but Kerr's hometown Galt, IMAX wouldn't have found bank financing. It was Kerr's successful printing business that convinced the TD Bank to keep money flowing to IMAX. And Kerr's upbeat outlook on life probably helped, too. "He was a great raconteur. He was a delightful person to be around. There's nobody I'm going to miss more than Robert," Ferguson said. A son of the depression, Kerr was a social activist in a business suit. "Robert in business had the most conservative temperament you could imagine, but he had the heart of a radical," Ferguson said. Canadian General-Tower president Jim Chaplin never had trouble working with Kerr politically or personally, despite their divergent political views. Both served on Galt city council in the 1960s, first as alderman, then later with Kerr as mayor and Chaplin his deputy mayor. "He was honest and straightforward," Chaplin said. "If there was something he just couldn't abide, he just wouldn't talk about it." Kerr once backed out of a handshake deal to sell Chaplin shares of cash-starved IMAX. Chaplin remembers Kerr's fears if the company failed, their friendship would sour. In the end, Chaplin bought fewer shares \emdash and gained greater respect for Kerr. "He was just one hell of a guy," Chaplin said, his voice breaking. Lifelong friend Bob Green remembers Kerr as generous and reserved \emdash at least in his later years. "As a teenager he was very wild, but in a quiet way," Green said. Green remembers working for Kerr as he started a printing business in his garage. Later, Green ran emergency errands by plane to New York City in the late 1960s as IMAX was establishing itself. "He was a go-getter, a very sober thinking person," said Bill Barlow, an alderman with Kerr on both Galt council, and when Kerr was mayor of Cambridge in 1975-76. Barlow said Kerr brought unity to a city council struggling two years after the forced amalgamation in 1973 of Galt, Preston, Hespeler and part of Waterloo and North Dumfries townships. "He got things done. He wasn't there to fool around or have a lot of discussion on things that had already been discussed," Barlow said. In 1946, Kerr, Ferguson and Bill Shaw were attending Galt Collegiate Institute and joined teacher Gord Clarke in the science labs at lunch. "We spend our times thinking up interesting things to do, which mostly involved things that exploded. Today we'd be arrested," Ferguson said. It was while experimenting in the lab, or helping put out a school newspaper, that Ferguson saw Kerr's eye for detail and drive for perfection. For the last 17 years, Ferguson and Kerr collected wooden power boats they used on Lake of Bays north of Toronto. Many of those years, Kerr spend working to restore a steam powered launch that included parts from the first boat built by U.S. engineer Robert Fulton \emdash often credited as creating the first practical steamboat. "He was offered a piece from the Titanic (for the boat), but he wouldn't take it." Green said. "He didn't think that was very good omen." The boat was expected to take to the water this summer IMAX will plant a tree in Kerr's memory at the company's Mississauga head office, as it did after the death of Shaw. Flags were lowered to half-staff at all city buildings Tuesday. They'll stay that way until at least May 17, after the tentative date of a memorial service. No other details are available about the service. Another service is also in the works for early July at Lake of Bays. The Waterloo Region Record 4 May 2010

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1930 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 29 Apr 2010 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth