The Canada Company and the Huron Tract, 1826-1853: Personalities, Profits and Politics Paperback - 2004

Robert C. (Bob) Lee, diplomat and historian of Scottish, English and Welsh heritage, was born and educated in Toronto but spent all of his summers as a boy in Goderich where his Huron County roots run deep. His great-great-grandfather Charles George Middleton arrived in Goderich Township from England (via Toronto in 1834 with his young wife, Elizabeth, and their firstborn son) where he initially purchased 80 acres from the Canada Company and built a log cabin there. His great-grandfather William Lee arrived in Goderich in the 1850s and served as mayor in 1869 (he was a marine agent and ship chandler at the Goderich harbour). The author's grandfather Charles Crabb Lee was mayor of Goderich (1931-34) and proprietor of a ship chandlery/coal/plumbing/hardware business at the harbour. He also owned and operated a summer resort in Goderich, the Sunset Hotel, until his death in 1944.

Bob studied at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec (Hons. B.A. History/Political Science), under eminent Canadian historian Dr. Donald C. Masters. He subsequently went on to the University of Guelph at Guelph, Ontario, for his Masters degree. Under the tutelage of Dr. Masters, who had since moved to Guelph, he wrote his thesis "The Canada Company: A Study in Direction, 1826-1853." In 1967, Bob joined the Canadian Foreign Service as a Trade Commissioner and has had postings in the United States, Yugoslavia, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. His latest assignment in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, was as director of the department's Science and Technology (S&T) Program.

He lives in Ottawa with his wife, Young-Hae, who is president of the Canada-Korea Society. They have three children -- Geoffrey, Jennifer and Stephen.