Maurice Frederick Strong was born on April 29, 1929, and died on November 27, 2015. He was a Canadian businessman who worked in the oil and mineral industries and also served as an important leader in international diplomacy. He held the position of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Strong began his career as a businessperson in the oil industry in Alberta, Canada. He was President of Power Corporation of Canada until 1966. In the early 1970s, he became the head of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and later became the first leader of the United Nations Environment Programme. He returned to Canada in 1976 and worked as the Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada until 1978. He also led Ontario Hydro, a major electricity provider in North America, and held leadership roles in organizations such as the World Alliance of YMCAs and American Water Development Incorporated. In 1986, he served as a commissioner for the World Commission on Environment and Development. He was honored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for his work in environmental protection.

From 1998 to 2006, Strong was President of the Council of the University for Peace. Later, he worked as an honorary professor at Peking University and as the honorary chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He also served on the advisory board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability in Northeast Asia. Strong passed away at the age of 86 in 2015.

Childhood and youth

Maurice Strong was born during the Great Depression, a time when many people faced difficult times with not enough money. His father lost his job at the start of the Depression and then supported his family by doing temporary jobs. His mother struggled with mental illness and passed away in a mental hospital. He was born in Oak Lake, Manitoba, a town located on the Canadian prairies along the main route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He is related by family to Anna Louise Strong, an American journalist and activist.

Strong later explained that growing up during the Depression made him more determined to help others and that he believed in sharing resources but used business methods to achieve goals. He left high school at the age of 14 and did not attend university. Despite not receiving formal education, he became the leader of many companies.

Business

In 1948, when he was nineteen, Strong was hired as a trainee by a brokerage firm called James Richardson & Sons, Limited in Winnipeg. He became interested in the oil business and was later transferred to work as an oil specialist in Richardson's office in Calgary, Alberta. There, he met Jack Gallagher, a key figure in the oil industry, who hired Strong as his assistant. At Gallagher's Dome Petroleum, Strong held several roles, including vice president of finance. He left the company in 1956 and started his own firm, M.F. Strong Management, which helped investors find opportunities in the Alberta oil industry.

In the 1950s, Strong took over a small natural gas company named Ajax Petroleum and grew it into one of the largest companies in the industry, Norcen Resources. This attracted the attention of Power Corporation of Canada, a major investment company with interests in energy and utilities. Power Corporation first appointed Strong as its executive vice president and later made him president from 1961 to 1966.

In 1976, at the request of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Strong returned to Canada to lead the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada.

Strong was planning to run as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in Scarborough Centre during the 1979 federal election. However, he decided not to continue with the race and returned to private business to manage AZL Resources, an oil company in Denver that he had previously acquired. He served as chairman and was the largest shareholder. In 1981, Strong was sued for allegedly increasing the value of the company's stock before a failed merger. He agreed to pay $4.2 million as required by his insurance company. AZL later merged with Tosco Corporation, and Strong acquired the Baca Ranch in Colorado, which would later be used for the Manitou Foundation.

Strong later became chairman of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, a company that owns some of Canada's major government-owned businesses. In 1992, he became chairman of Ontario Hydro.

Charles Lynch noted that Strong often succeeded more than the companies and institutions that used his skills. Strong was said to have become a billionaire due to his business ventures, but in 2010, he stated he had "never been anywhere close to being [so]."

On December 31, 1986, Strong founded American Water Development Incorporated (AWDI) with associates William Ruckelshaus, Richard Lamm, Samuel Belzberg, and Alexander Crutchfield Jr. AWDI applied to a court in Colorado to pump water from lands in the San Luis Valley and sell it to water districts in the Front Range Urban Corridor. The project faced opposition from local groups, government agencies, and environmental organizations, who argued it would harm water rights and damage ecosystems. After a long trial that ended in 1992, Colorado courts ruled against AWDI and ordered it to pay $3.1 million in legal fees. During this time, Strong left the company.

Maurice Strong was a director of Molten Metal Technology, Inc., an environmental technology company started in 1989. The company claimed to have technology that could recycle hazardous waste into reusable products. Between 1992 and 1995, it received about $25 million in research grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. From March 28, 1995, to October 18, 1996, Molten Metal falsely claimed its technology could do more than it actually could, which inflated its stock price. In March 1996, Strong owned about 40,000 shares of the company, and another 262,000 shares were owned by a company he chaired. Molten Metal later filed for bankruptcy, and the case was settled for $11.8 million without any finding of wrongdoing.

United Nations work

In 1947, Strong lived with Noah Monod, the first UN Treasurer. Monod helped Strong get a job at the UN as a junior security officer at the headquarters in Lake Success, New York. Later, Strong returned to Canada. With the help of Lester B. Pearson, he helped create the Canadian International Development Agency in 1968.

In 1971, Strong asked for a report on the condition of the planet. The report, called Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet, was written by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos. It included findings from 152 experts in 58 countries. This report was used to prepare for the first UN meeting on the environment in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972. This was the first global report about the environment.

The Stockholm Conference made the environment a key part of international development plans. It led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in December 1972. UNEP was based in Nairobi, Kenya, and Strong was chosen to lead it. UNEP was the first UN agency to have its headquarters in a country in the Global South. While leading UNEP, Strong organized the first international meeting about climate change.

Strong was a member of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which the UN created in 1983.

Strong’s work with the UN’s famine relief program in Africa was the first of many UN advisory roles. These included helping reform the UN and serving as Secretary General of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Strong believed that participants at the Earth Summit agreed on good ideas but did not promise enough action to solve global environmental problems. He said that less than 5% of $125 billion was committed to environmental projects in developing nations. UNEP Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali agreed, saying the level of commitment was not enough for the size of the problems.

After the Earth Summit, Strong helped put agreements into action by creating the Earth Council. He also co-chaired the Earth Charter Commission, led the World Resources Institute, and was a member of several other organizations. Strong worked on these projects for free, using income from his business roles, including being chairman of companies like CH2M Hill and Cosmos International.

Strong worked to change how NGOs viewed the World Bank. Some believe he influenced former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s work on climate change. In 1999, Strong tried to fix problems at the University for Peace in Costa Rica, which had issues with mismanagement and poor leadership. He helped rebuild the university’s programs and leadership. He left the university’s governing body in 2007.

From 2003 to 2005, Strong worked as a personal envoy to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to help address needs in North Korea.

The University for Peace was created in 1980 by the UN. Maurice Strong became its director in 1999, but this led to controversy. This included the removal of Radio for Peace International (RFPI), the departure of the Earth Council, and the introduction of military training programs. Strong was a member of the Earth Council, which was established to support environmental policies from the Earth Summit. The Costa Rican government gave land to the Earth Council, but plans to build on it failed. The land was later sold for $1.65 million. RFPI was asked to leave in 2002, though it claimed it had proper permits. Some said university officials disliked the criticism RFPI provided and cut its power.

In 2005, an investigation into the UN’s Oil-for-Food Programme found that in 1997, Strong had signed a $988,885 check made out to himself, delivered by a businessman named Tongsun Park. Park was later convicted of bribing UN officials to favor Saddam Hussein’s regime. Strong was never accused of wrongdoing. During the investigation, Strong stepped down from his UN role, saying he would wait until the situation was cleared.

Strong said the scandal was due to complex relationships and unclear funding in the UN, where he had a major role. He claimed he always checked his actions with the U.S. government.

After this, Strong moved to an apartment in Beijing, China. He said he left the UN not because of the Oil-for-Food investigation, but because he felt the UN had reached a dead end in his role as Annan’s special adviser on North Korea. He said the timing of the scandal was a coincidence. A UN report found no evidence that Strong was involved in the Oil-for-Food Programme or acted on behalf of Iraqi officials.

Kofi Annan, near the end of his term, praised Maurice Strong for his work.

In 2010, Strong described his activities at that time.

In 2012, Strong contributed to the Rio+20 conference.

Death, funeral and memorial services

Strong passed away at the age of 86 on November 27, 2015, in Ottawa, Ontario. A funeral service took place there in early December 2015. A public memorial event was held near Parliament Hill in late January 2016. The event was shown on CPAC. James Wolfensohn, Adrienne Clarkson, John Ralston Saul, and Achim Steiner spoke during the service. Written messages were also received from Mikhail Gorbachev, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and Kofi Annan.

Impact

Strong did not look special, but he had an amazing network that linked different groups with various interests. One person noted that he showed happiness when talking about his clever political strategies. In the environmental movement, he helped get government money and supported participation in global meetings for groups that are not part of the government.

Critique

Maurice Strong faced doubt and criticism throughout his life, especially because of his role in the Oil for Food Program Scandal and his long career in the oil industry. This background made some people question why he was chosen to lead important environmental efforts.

One of Strong’s companies, Desarrollos Ecológicos, built a $35 million luxury hotel inside the Jairo Mora Sandoval Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica. This area is protected, and any development must be approved by the Kekoldi Indian Association. However, the hotel was built without their approval. Demetrio Myorga, President of the Kekoldi Indian Association, said, "He is supporting Indians and conservation around the world, but here he is doing the exact opposite."

Honours and awards

Maurice Strong received many honors, awards, and medals. He earned 53 honorary doctorate degrees and held honorary visiting professorships at seven universities.

Honors listed in the Canadian order of precedence include:

Other honors and awards he received are:

• July 1, 1992: Was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
• 2003: Received the Public Welfare Medal from the US National Academy of Sciences. He was the first non-US citizen to receive this medal in 2007.
• 2002: Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue from the Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
• 2002: Candlelight Award from the Carriage House Center on Global Issues.
• 1995: IKEA Environmental Award.
• 1994: Asahi Glass Foundation Award: Blue Planet Prize.
• 1994: Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.
• 1993: International St. Francis Prize for the Environment.
• 1993: Alexander Onassis Delphi Prize.
• 1989: Pearson Medal of Peace.
• 1981: Charles A. Lindbergh Award.
• 1977: Henri Pittier Order of Venezuela.
• 1975: National Audubon Society Award.
• 1974: Tyler Environmental Prize.
• 1967: Honorary doctorate from Sir George Williams University, which later became Concordia University.
• International Saint Francis Prize, Fellow.
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).
• Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC).
• Honorary board member of the David Suzuki Foundation.
• Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
• Resident member of the American Philosophical Society.

John Ralston Saul dedicated his polemic Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West to Strong.

Papers

Strong's papers are stored in the Environmental Science and Public Policy Archives at Harvard Library.