George A. Drew - Post-political Career and Death

Post-political Career and Death

From 1957 to 1964 He served as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and during this period he worked with newspaper baron and fellow Canadian Lord Beaverbrook in an attempt to influence British public opinion against joining the European Common Market as Drew saw this as a threat to the British Commonwealth.

He served as the first Chancellor of the University of Guelph from 1965 until 1971. In 1967, "for his services in government" he entered the newly created Order of Canada as a Companion. In November 1972, his health took a turn for the worst when he had a heart-attack and was admitted to Wellesley Hospital on November 19. His condition worsened due to congestive heart failure, and he was slipping in and out of consciousness in late December and early January. In the early morning hours on January 6, 1973, Drew died of heart failure in his Wellesley Hospital room at age 78. He requested that he not receive a state funeral, and had a public family funeral in Toronto. He was buried in his family's plot, next to his first wife Fiorenza Johnson, in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph.