Frederick Ernest Osborne

Mayor Fred Osborne greets Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Stanley Baldwin and Edward VIII Prince of Wales

Frederick Ernest Osborne was born on January 10, 1879 in Belleville, Ontario to Richard Osborne (English) and Sarah Anne (nee Vickers). He was educated in Belleville and attended Ontario Business College.[1] Osborne married Florence Curlette, of Belleville, Ontario, on September 21, 1901.[1]

In 1905, Osborne came to Calgary and founded Osborne's Book Store, a retail outlet that sold books, stationary, and school supplies. Osborne's Book Store remained in its original location, 112 8 Avenue SW, until it was destroyed by fire in 1966.

Osborne was actively involved in Calgary politics. He was a city alderman twice, and was elected the 1926 Calgary municipal election the twenty-third mayor of Calgary and served from 1927 to 1929. As Alderman he was dissatisfied with the way sinking fund loans were handled by the city, and headed a special sinking fund committee which recommended the appointment of a board of sinking fund trustees to supervise financing. Osborne would sit on the sinking fund board until his death.[2]

Osborne also held leadership roles at many of Calgary's business, service, and social organizations. He was president and district governor of the Calgary Rotary Club from 1921 to 1922, president of the Calgary Board of Trade in 1925, and a member of the board of governors of the University of Alberta from 1923 to 1942. Osborne was a Mason and a Shriner, and a member of the Ranchman's Club, the Calgary Golf and Country Club, and the Glencoe Club.

Frederick Ernest Osborne died in Calgary on October 22, 1948.[2]

The University of Alberta awarded Osborne an honorary degree of Doctor of Law in 1947.

Osborne was awarded the prestigious Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1948 for his leadership role on the Provincial War Finance Committee from 1942 to 1945, a few months before his death. It was noted that the Alberta committee's quota for Victory Loans under Osborne's leadership was consistently oversubscribed.[3][4][1][2]

In 1961, the Calgary Board of Education honoured Osborne by building a junior-high school in the then new Northwest Calgary community of Varsity. The medium-sized school opened in 1967, and today has been expanded to serve the communities of Hawkwood, Tuscany, Varsity, and Silver Springs.

• F.E. Osborne Junior High School