A Quebec native, forward Kenneth Farmer entered the McGill University in 1930 to obtain a Bachelor’s of Commerce degree. When he graduated four years later, he left with not only the diploma, but also with four years of experience on the university’s ice hockey team, the McGill Redmen, and a Canadian intercollegiate doubles tennis title from 1932. His only previous senior-level hockey experience had been with the Montreal Northern Electric during the 1929-1930 season. Before beginning his career as a chartered accountant in 1937, he decided to continue his amateur hockey career and joined the Montreal Victorias while working at the accounting firm of McDonald Currie & Company. In 1935 the Victorias chose him to join the Port Arthur Bearcats that were sent to the 1936 Winter Olympics to represent Canada in ice hockey. At the tournament he played in eight games, scored ten goals, and took home a silver medal. He returned to Canada, playing with the Montreal Victorias until 1939, and working with McDonald Currie until 1940, when he joined the Canadian forces in World War II. He served with the Royal Montreal Regiment and the Manitoba Dragoons until 1945 and, when he was discharged, he had attained the rank of Major and had also been mentioned in dispatches.
Farmer was made a partner at the accounting firm upon his return and worked there until his retirement in 1977. Along the way, however, he served as President of what became the Canadian Olympic Committee from 1953 to 1961, chaired the National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sports from 1962 through 1965, and helped organize the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He continued to be active after his retirement, serving as President of the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada from 1977 through 1983, which included the era when the 1980 Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta. He governed the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame for a decade, from 1980 to 1990, and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982. At the time of his death, at the age of 92, he was the last surviving player from his 1936 team and the oldest living former McGill hockey player. He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1971 and the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
Canada