Richard Rohmer
Honorary Lieutenant General Richard Heath Rohmer is a Canadian aviator, lawyer, adviser, author and historian.
Rohmer was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and spent some of his early youth in Pasadena, California, as well as in western Ontario at Windsor and Fort Erie. The Peterborough Examiner's lead editorial of 14 January 2009 describes Rohmer as "one of Canada's most colourful figures of the past half-century". General Rohmer is the honorary advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces. He is the advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs for the organization and conduct of Canada's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day celebrations in Normandy in June 2014 and the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Holland in May 2015. He is currently believed to be the senior surviving Canadian Veteran of D-Day, the Battle of Normandy and the Liberation of Holland.
Military career
After his studies in high school he worked briefly at Fleet Aerospace before joining in 1942 on his 18th birthday the Royal Canadian Air Force. In Europe in 1943/44 as a reconnaissance pilot flying North American Mustang fighters he completed a 135 mission tour of operations at the end of November 1944 in Holland. On 17 July 1944, he had spotted a fast moving staff car, usually used to carry German officers. According to Rohmer, the German officer being carried was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rohmer reported the car's location to Group Control Centre, which sent in a Spitfire piloted by Canadian Charley Fox. Rohmer took part in D-Day and the Battles of Normandy, Belgium and Holland. He is now the senior surviving Canadian veteran of all of those Battles.In 1945 he was demobilized and transferred to the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, where he was appointed as a lieutenant RCN with seniority. He served at HMCS Hunter in Windsor, Ontario, as commanding officer University Naval Training Division from 1946 until he retired in 1948.
In 1950, he returned to the RCAF flying Vampire jets and commanding 400 Squadron and 411 Squadron. He retired in 1953 as a wing commander.
In 1971, he was appointed honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 411 Air Reserve Squadron. In April 1975, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed Senior Air Reserve Advisor. On 1 April 1976, he was appointed commander of the newly-formed Air Reserve Group. On 31 January 1978 he was promoted to the rank of major-general and appointed Chief of Reserves. He was appointed a commander of the Order of Military Merit in December 1978 and left the military in January 1981.
On 22 December 2014, Major-General Rohmer was named honorary advisor to the Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, a position "...created to recognize MGen Rohmer’s contributions to the Canadian Armed Forces, and the unique advice and guidance that he provides to the Chief of the Defence Staff, drawing from his wealth of experience in service to Canada". On 26 June 2015, in his capacity as honorary advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rohmer was promoted to the rank of Honorary Lieutenant General by the outgoing and incoming Chiefs of the Defence Staff.
Professions
As the senior lawyer and member of the Ontario Bar Rohmer, who completed his legal studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, is active in a range of legal, veterans' and corporate activities as well as honorary posts in a number of organizations. He is an active senior member of the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn with a boutique international and national aviation and commercial litigation practice. Called to the Bar in 1951 and Queen's Counsel in 1960, he continues to practice. He was chairman of the 60th anniversary of D-Day celebrations that took place in the presence of the Queen at Juno Beach in Normandy on 6 June 2004. As ministerial advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs he took part in the planning, preparation and execution of the government's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day at Juno Beach, France, on 6 June 2014, and was similarly engaged in the plans for the in-Holland Canadian celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands on 5 May 2015. He is the senior Canadian veteran of both of those Battles - Normandy and Holland. He co-chaired the Ontario advisory committee that created the veterans' memorial unveiled on 17 September 2006 in front of the provincial legislature at Queen's Park. He was chair of the Premier's Ceremonial Advisory Committee and was a ten-year member of the advisory council of the Order of Ontario.Rohmer is the honorary deputy commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, the honorary chief of Toronto Paramedic Services, patron of the Toronto St. John's Ambulance, honorary fire chief of Collingwood, Ontario, and honorary chief of the Toronto Police Service. In 2012, the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs named General Rohmer the first honorary Chief of Paramedics in Ontario.
While living in Toronto in the 1950s, he was heavily involved in the Don Mills Progressive Conservative riding association and, in 1958, he challenged Hollis Edward Beckett, the incumbent Progressive Conservative MPP in the adjacent riding of York East, for the Conservative nomination for the 1959 general election. While the incumbent was successful in being renominated, Rohmer became an advisor to John Robarts during his successful campaign to win the leadership of the PC Party of Ontario and ultimately premier.
During his law practice he was counsel before several administrative tribunals in land use and transportation. His major official plan change success occurred in 1972 when as counsel for Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways and their subsidiaries he appeared before the Ontario Municipal Board in a six-week contested hearing that resulted in the change of the official plan for all of the railway use lands around Union Station from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street to a high density mix of residential, commercial, entertainment, hotels, sport centres and other uses including construction of the CN Tower. That official plan is the basis for years of enormous development on the lands - lands then and now worth billions of dollars. It was/is the largest official plan change in the history of Canada.
He was twice chancellor of the University of Windsor, serving a total of 13 years. In 1978, he negotiated the donation of Conrad Black's collection of Duplessis papers in exchange for an honorary degree.
He was a charter member of his local Civitan club, and he served as treasurer of the international organization. His position allowed him to meet U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to present Civitan's World Citizenship Award.
Literary activities
Two of Rohmer's better-known novels are Ultimatum and Separation. Ultimatum, published in 1973, features political, economic, and energy crisis themes as well as the author's opinion about the viability of the Canadian nation. It is Rohmer's most popular novel and it was the best-selling novel in Canada in 1973. Three years later, Rohmer published Separation, a novel with domestic and international political themes surrounding the ambition of Quebec separatists to establish the Canadian province as a separate nation. It stayed on the Toronto Star's best-seller list for 22 weeks. Separation was made into a television movie in 1977, and aired on the CTV network. Barry Morse was cast for a brief appearance as the British prime minister.Rohmer chaired the Royal Commission on Book Publishing in 1971/72. He is a known Canadian author of both fiction and non-fiction; throughout his literary career he has published over thirty books. His most recent non-fiction is The Building of the CN Tower published 2011 by RailCore Press Inc. of which he is president. His most recent novel, Ultimatum 2 was published early 2007. It fictionalizes a confrontation between the US and Russia against Canada over the building of an international high level nuclear waste disposal site in Arctic Canada. The second edition of his historical novel on the 1866/67 Canadian negotiations with the British for autonomy under the British North American Act is Sir John A's Crusade and Seward's Magnificent Folly.
Family
Rohmer lives with his wife Mary-O in Collingwood, Ontario, and practices aviation litigation with the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn. He has two daughters, Ann Rohmer, a TV personality, and Catherine, a lawyer. He is a licensed pilot.Honours
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| Order of Canada |
| |
| Order of Military Merit | ||
| Order of Saint John | ||
| Order of Ontario | ||
| Distinguished Flying Cross | ||
| 1939–1945 Star | ||
| Air Crew Europe Star | ||
| Defence Medal | ||
| Canadian Volunteer Service Medal | ||
| War Medal | ||
| Canadian Centennial Medal | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal | ||
| 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | ||
| Canadian Forces Decoration | ||
| Service Medal of the Order of St John | ||
| Distinguished Marksmanship Ribbon | ||
| Order of Leopold | ||
| Legion of Honour |