George Wilbur Spinney

Who was George Wilbur Spinney?

George Wilbur Spinney was president of Bank of Montreal from December 1942 until his death in February 1948. He was also chairman of the National War Finance Committee from its inception in 1941 until 1943, when he became honorary chairman.

Spinney was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on April 3, 1889. He joined Bank of Montreal after high school, and served in a number of capacities before being appointed as secretary to the General Manager, Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor, in 1915. In 1922, Spinney was appointed assistant to the General Manager, responsible for organizing Bank of Montreal's securities department, and in 1928 he assumed responsibility for the Quebec, Maritimes and Newfoundland branches of the bank. In 1936, Spinney was appointed joint general manager of the bank with Jackson Dodds.

In 1940, following the accidental death of Minister of Defense Norman Rogers, Prime Minister Mackenzie King asked Spinney to be his new Minister of Finance. Spinney respectfully declined - he was a businessman, not a politician - but offered his services in "...any other direction in which [they] could be utilized."