# John Meisel > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Meisel > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Meisel.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meisel > Source revision: 1349557563 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Canadian political scientist (1923–2025)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = John Meisel | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | office2 = [Chairman](/source/Chairman) of the [CRTC](/source/Canadian_Radio-television_and_Telecommunications_Commission) | term_start2 = 1980 | term_end2 = 1983 | prime_minister2 = | predecessor2 = [Pierre Camu](/source/Pierre_Camu) | successor2 = [André Bureau](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Bureau) | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|10|23}} | birth_place = [Vienna](/source/Vienna), Austria | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|3|30|1923|10|23}} | death_place = [Kingston, Ontario](/source/Kingston%2C_Ontario), Canada | party = | alma_mater = [Victoria College](/source/Victoria_University%2C_Toronto)
[London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics) (PhD) | occupation = Professor, political scientist }} '''John Meisel''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC}} (October 23, 1923 – March 30, 2025) was a Canadian political scientist, professor, and scholar, and chairman of the [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission](/source/Canadian_Radio-television_and_Telecommunications_Commission). Meisel wrote on various aspects of politics, notably on parties, elections, ethnic relations, politics and leisure culture, and, at the beginning of his academic career, international politics. Meisel was a pioneer in Canada of research on electoral behaviour, political parties and the relationship between politics and leisure culture, particularly the arts. Throughout his career he examined the cohesion (or its absence) of the Canadian communities. He also lectured and wrote about regulation, broadcasting, telecommunications, and the information society. ==Career== Meisel was born in [Vienna](/source/Vienna), Austria in October 1923 to [Jewish Czech](/source/Czech_Jews) parents. His father worked for [Baťa Shoes](/source/Bata_Corporation) at its headquarters in [Zlín](/source/Zl%C3%ADn), [Moravia](/source/Moravia), [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia) in the 1930s. As the Nazi [occupation of Czechoslovakia](/source/Occupation_of_Czechoslovakia_(1938%E2%80%931945)) became imminent, Baťa sent its Jewish employees out of Czechoslovakia to Bata centres abroad,[http://www.cet.ac.il/terezin/dk9e6.htm+tom+stoppard+mother+beck&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=safari] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106023725/http://www.cet.ac.il/terezin/dk9e6.htm%20tom%20stoppard%20mother%20beck%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26client%3Dsafari|date=2016-11-06}}{{cite news|author=Stephen Moss |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jun/22/books.featuresreviews |title=Profile: Tom Stoppard | Film |work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |date= 2002-06-22|access-date=2013-11-19 |location=London}} and the Meisel family moved to [Casablanca](/source/Casablanca) and then [Haiti](/source/Haiti) before settling in Bata's Canadian [company town](/source/company_town) of [Batawa, Ontario](/source/Batawa%2C_Ontario) in 1942.{{cite web | url=https://torontoreviewofbooks.com/2012/09/john-meisels-life-of-learning/ | title=John Meisel's Life of Learning | date=September 6, 2012 }} John Meisel matriculated from [Pickering College](/source/Pickering_College) in [Newmarket, Ontario](/source/Newmarket%2C_Ontario). He received his university training at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto)'s [Victoria College](/source/Victoria_University%2C_Toronto), and the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics). He taught at [Queen's University](/source/Queen's_University%2C_Canada) since 1949, where he was a professor [emeritus](/source/emeritus). He served on the Ontario Advisory Committee on Confederation in 1965. Meisel worked on the 1965 Canadian National Election Study,{{cite web |url=http://queensu.ca/cora/ces.html |title=Canadian Opinion Research Archive |publisher=Queensu.ca |date= |accessdate=October 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017162648/http://www.queensu.ca/cora/ces.html |archive-date=October 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }} and was a member of the ICPSR ([Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research](/source/Inter-university_Consortium_for_Political_and_Social_Research)) Council from 1966 to 1968.{{cite web |url=http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/org/governance/council-historic.jsp;jsessionid=3E9148745CC352CEDCAA7A938AC273B2 |title=ICPSR Council Members, 1962-2008 |publisher=Icpsr.umich.edu |accessdate=October 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927055226/http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/org/governance/council-historic.jsp;jsessionid=3E9148745CC352CEDCAA7A938AC273B2 |archivedate=September 27, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} In 1975, he was a consultant for the [Trilateral Commission](/source/Trilateral_Commission)'s report ''[Crisis of Democracy](/source/Crisis_of_Democracy)''.{{cite book | url=http://trilateral.org/download/doc/crisis_of_democracy.pdf | title=The Crisis of Democracy | publisher=New York University Press | author=[Michel Crozier](/source/Michel_Crozier), [Samuel P. Huntington](/source/Samuel_P._Huntington), and Joji Watanuki | year=1975 | pages=vi | isbn=978-0-8147-1365-5 | access-date=August 3, 2016 | archive-date=August 21, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821184442/http://trilateral.org/download/doc/crisis_of_democracy.pdf | url-status=dead }} From 1980 to 1983 he was Chairman of the [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission](/source/Canadian_Radio-television_and_Telecommunications_Commission). From 1992 until 1995, he was the 103rd President of the [Royal Society of Canada](/source/Royal_Society_of_Canada). In 1989 he was made an Officer of the [Order of Canada](/source/Order_of_Canada); promoted to Companion in 1999. Meisel was the founding editor of ''[The Canadian Journal of Political Science](/source/The_Canadian_Journal_of_Political_Science)'' and of ''[The International Political Science Review](/source/The_International_Political_Science_Review)''. [https://www.queensu.ca/politics/events/john-meisel-lecture-series-contemporary-political-controversies The John Meisel Lecture in Contemporary Political Controversies], established in 2017 by the Department of Political Studies at Queen's, is an annual lecture that honours Meisel by highlighting a scholar working on complex political issues. ==Philanthropy== In addition to his contributions to Canadian university research and public communications, Dr Meisel is known for his philanthropy in Kingston, Ontario. One gift was his 50-hectare property near Crow Lake north of Kingston. This was donated to the [Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation](/source/Rideau_Valley_Conservation_Foundation) in 2000 as a sanctuary of peace and quiet for the residents of Eastern Ontario. The property is called the Meisel Woods Conservation Area. Over the years, modest improvements and public safety features have been installed. A commemorative trail called the Sandi Slater Memorial Walk has been added by the Foundation. ==Death== Meisel died in [Kingston, Ontario](/source/Kingston%2C_Ontario) on March 30, 2025, at the age of 101.{{Cite web |last=Thiessen |first=Connie |date=2025-04-09 |title=Former CRTC Chair John Meisel has passed away at 101 |url=https://broadcastdialogue.com/former-crtc-chair-john-meisel-has-passed-away-at-101/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Broadcast Dialogue |language=en-US}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?lang_id=1&page_id=105 Royal Society of Canada biography] * [http://db-archives.library.queensu.ca/index.php/john-meisel-fonds John Meisel fonds] at Queen's University Archives {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=[Pierre Camu](/source/Pierre_Camu)}} {{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [CRTC](/source/Canadian_Radio-television_and_Telecommunications_Commission) |years=1980–1983}} {{s-aft|after=[André Bureau](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Bureau)}} {{s-npo|pro}} {{s-bef|before=[Jules Deschênes](/source/Jules_Desch%C3%AAnes)}} {{s-ttl|title=[President of the Royal Society of Canada](/source/President_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Canada)|years=1992–1995}} {{s-aft|after=[Robert Haynes](/source/Robert_Haynes_(geneticist))}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Meisel, John}} Category:1923 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Category:Canadian political scientists Category:Chairpersons of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Category:Companions of the Order of Canada Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism Category:Czech Jews Category:Jewish Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Academics from Vienna Category:People from Zlín Category:Presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association Category:Canadian men centenarians Category:Jewish centenarians --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Meisel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meisel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meisel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.