{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Leonard S. Klinck |image = Leonard Sylvanus Klinck.png |order = |title = Second President of [[University of British Columbia]] |term_start = 1919 |term_end = 1940 |predecessor = [[Frank Wesbrook]] |successor = [[Norman MacKenzie (politician)|Norman MacKenzie]] |birth_name = Leonard Sylvanus Klinck |birth_date = January 20, 1877 |birth_place = [[Victoria Place, Ontario]], Canada |death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1969|03|27|1877|01|20}} |alma_mater = [[Ontario Agricultural College]]<br>[[Iowa State University]] |profession = Professor of agricultural science |}} '''Leonard Sylvanus Klinck''' (January 20, 1877 – March 27, 1969) was the second president of the [[University of British Columbia]] in [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]], Canada from 1919 to 1940.
==Biography== Leonard Klinck was born in [[Victoria Square, Ontario]] in 1877. He graduated from the [[Ontario Agricultural College]] in 1903, and received a [[Master of Science]] in [[Agriculture]] from [[Iowa State University]] in 1905. He then taught at the [[Macdonald College]] at [[McGill University]].
Klinck was appointed Dean of Agriculture in 1914.<ref name=Gibson>William C. Gibson (1973) ''Wesbrook and His University''</ref>{{rp|95}} He set to work clearing 150 acres at [[Point Grey]], preparing it for University usage. An archive photograph shows him at a small shed, the first building on the site, displaying a Danger sign. Evidently it was used to store explosives used in the work. But it would be a decade before the site was occupied by students.
Frank Wesbrook and Leonard Klinck toured the [[Okanagan]], visiting orchards, packing houses, and horse and cattle ranches. Their trip took them through Salmon Arm, Vernon, Coldstream, Lumby, Kelowna, Summerland and Penticton.<ref name=Gibson />{{rp|103}} In 1915 Klinck, Wesbrook, and Dean of Applied Science R. W. Brock, met with the premier in [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]] to discuss the amount of provincial support for the envisioned institution.<ref name=Gibson />{{rp|120}} The skeleton of a science building was erected at Point Grey, but the contractor had underbid the costs and went bankrupt, leaving the building unfinished. Klinck was called upon to estimate the cost of completion.<ref name=Gibson />{{rp|124}}
When Wesbrook fell ill, he wrote his colleague: {{Quote|My dear Dean Klinck: In order to expedite the business of the University and to cause as little inconvenience as possible to the Board of Governors, and the members of the staff and the student body, … you [are] asked to serve… as acting President.<ref name=Gibson />{{rp|185}}}}
In July 1919 Klinck was appointed president.<ref name=Logan>Harry T. Logan (1958) ''Tuum Est: A History of the University of British Columbia''</ref>{{rp|80}} In a later reflection, when he lectured on the principles of administration, he lamented that service in the office of university president entailed "sacrifice of opportunities for acquiring a mastery in any recognized department of learning."<ref name=Logan />{{rp|80}} Nevertheless, Klinck continued his activity with the Society of Technical Agriculturists.
Klinck had the attitude that the university should be modest in profile before the public: {{Quote|The love of large dimensions, the temptation to keep prominently before the public the material and visible accomplishments of the University, must be withstood constantly and resolutely.<ref name=Logan />{{rp|81}}}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Presidents of the University of British Columbia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klinck, Leonard}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1969 deaths]] [[Category:Iowa State University alumni]] [[Category:Academic staff of McGill University]] [[Category:Presidents of the University of British Columbia]] [[Category:Canadian university and college faculty deans]]