Class of 1932

Dr. Claude Thomas Bissell (1916-2000)

- was born in Meaford, Ontario, the youngest of nine children.
- graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936
- received Master of Arts degree in English literature in 1937.
- served in the Canadian Army during World War II.

- assistant professor at the University of Toronto in 1952.
- president of Carleton College (now Carleton University) from 1956 to 1958.
- returned to University of Toronto in 1958 to become the 8th president.
- tripled the size of the university during his tenure
- Claude T. Bissell Building at the University of Toronto is named after him.
- the country's youngest university president when he accepted the position at Carleton in 1956 at the age of 40.

As a dedicated educator, Dr.Bissell retained the respect and esteem of students and faculty through a period of turbulent change in the University community in the late 1960s. He was a humanist, first and foremost, and he always enjoyed the friendship and respect of students.

Besides his long term career as an educator, Dr. Bissell was also an accomplished writer. He is the author of an acclaimed two-volume biography of the country's first Canadian Governor General, Vincent Massey.