Frank A. DeMarco

Frank A. DeMarco played a central role in the founding of the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In his four plus decades devoted to higher education in Windsor, as a professor, athletic director, administrator, executive, and Professor Emeritus, DeMarco served and shaped the institution to which he had dedicated himself from its very first emergence.

If one looks at the historical archives, very prominent in all that development, from Assumption College, through Essex College, Assumption University, and the University of Windsor, was Frank DeMarco… When the history of this very important institution is written, among the pillars of its development, first and foremost is the name of Frank DeMarco.

Ronald W. Ianni, C.M., Ph.D., Q.C. (at the retirement of Frank A. DeMarco, 1986)

The University of Windsor came into existence in 1963, after evolving from Essex College where DeMarco was Principal, as well as Dean of Applied Science, from 1958 to 1963. Earlier, in the early 1950s, DeMarco had championed the establishment of Essex College to complement the role of Windsor’s Assumption College , a long established Catholic liberal arts college under the Congregation of St. Basil.

In particular, Windsor’s first university degree programs in science and engineering were initiated in the newly-created Essex College in the 1950’s by DeMarco, a Chemical Engineer by background. Under his leadership, Essex College further expanded to offer degrees in business and in nursing. When that institution became part of the University of Windsor in 1963, DeMarco became the inaugural Vice-President, with Father E.C. LeBel, C.S.B. from Assumption as the first President. Begun under their watch, we now see the present full-fledged non-denominational university with nine faculties that is the University of Windsor today.

Early Life and Education

Frank Anthony DeMarco was born February 14, 1921 in Podargoni, Italy. His family was re-united in Canada when he was a young boy, and he received his primary and secondary school education in North Bay, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto where he earned a B.A.Sc. in 1942, M.A.Sc.in 1943, and PhD in 1951, all in Chemical Engineering.

A Canadian by birth, DeMarco was witness to the stark incongruities during the World War II years that were the reality for Italian-Canadians at that time. Although he had four older brothers in uniform, including one who lost his life serving in the Royal_Canadian_Air_Force (RCAF), DeMarco also had two uncles who were among the over 600 Italian Canadians taken from their families and imprisoned for the duration of the war.

As a stand-out scholar at the time, DeMarco was dissuaded from enlisting in the RCAF because of the vital work in support of the war effort that was taking place in leading laboratories like the University of Toronto and elsewhere. DeMarco undertook important research on adhesives, including those used in the construction materials in the de Havilland Mosquito combat aircraft. His PhD thesis dealt with properties of adhesives used in plywood construction and his research findings were published in the Analytical Chemistry Journal.

Academic Career

DeMarco was an instructor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto from 1943 to 1946. He came to Windsor in 1946 after he was recruited by the Basilian Fathers, who were endeavouring to meet the demand for higher education that was being created by returning World War II veterans, and the growth of the City of Windsor. He joined the staff of Assumption College with a mandate to offer science instruction and to create the original science laboratories in the landmark War Memorial Hall. Beginning in 1953, Assumption College received its own charter to become an independent degree-granting institution and thereby ended its affiliation with the University of Western Ontario.

Serving Assumption College, from 1946 to 1956, in several capacities, DeMarco was Assistant Professor, then Professor, and first Head of the Department of Chemistry. He was the first to teach pre-engineering courses, such as descriptive geometry, surveying, and mechanical drawing in the regular day program.

Concurrently, from 1949 to 1956, DeMarco served as Assumption’s Director of Athletics and coached their intercollegiate football team, and later their basketball team. He also initiated and promoted an intramural sports program.

DeMarco was the first to propose that financial viability could only be achieved through the creation of a non-denominational college, which would receive Provincial grants, and this led to the creation and incorporation of Essex College in 1954. From the beginning, Dr. DeMarco's vision promoted the development of a complete academic experience of degree programs, graduate work, and research at the young Essex College.

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F.A. DeMarco's "Visionary Leadership" played a central role in the creation of Essex College and the University of Windsor

In 1956, Assumption College became Assumption University, and the non-denominational Essex College came into existence as an affiliate, under the leadership of DeMarco as Principal. The task of spinning off a non-denominational affiliate from a Catholic university was a very complex undertaking, and was the culmination of over two years of negotiations. DeMarco, along with the two Basilian Fathers, Reverend E.C.LeBel, and Reverend Norbert J. Ruth are considered the founders of Essex College.

Originally offering degrees in Mathematics and the pure sciences, Essex College later on added Engineering, Nursing and Business. While he was Principal of Essex College, concurrently from 1959 to 1963, DeMarco was also Acting Head of the Engineering Department after being appointed the first Dean of Applied Science in 1959. He held both positions until the young university took another step forward in 1963.

As head of Essex College, DeMarco was able to considerably expand the resources available, and oversaw a very ambitious building and hiring program. The first building created with Essex College funds was the library, now known as the West Wing of the expanded university library. During this period DeMarco also identified the need for a “state-of-the-art” engineering building, and under his leadership, funding was secured amounting to $5,000,000 ( equaling approximately $40,000,000 in 2013 dollars) . The spacious new Essex Hall building, over 600 feet long, opened in 1962, and turned out classes of science and engineering graduates for the next five decades or more.

University of Windsor Years

In 1963, Assumption University and Essex College together formed a new public institution, the University of Windsor, with Reverend E.C. LeBel, President of Assumption University at its helm. DeMarco became the inaugural Vice-President of the University of Windsor, a post which he held until 1979.

Under three different presidents in all, DeMarco had full responsibility during most of this period for a very broad range of both administrative and academic matters. He was the sole Vice-President in the organization for many of those years.

During his administrative career, DeMarco maintained his interest in scientific research, particularly as it applied to society’s well-being. A good illustration of this emphasis on social responsibility was his ground- breaking report for the Ontario Ministry of Health in 1974, titled “Report of the Committee to Inquire into the Effect on Human Health of Lead in the Environment”.

To round out his academic career, which had begun in the classroom decades before, DeMarco decided in 1980 to return to the classroom and research, as a Professor of Engineering. At the same time, he was also appointed to the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre, a Canadian government-sponsored think tank to support ideas and research for the application of science and technology to solving problems of the developing regions of the world. In 1984 he was appointed by Premier William Davis as a member of the Ontario Council of University Affairs.

During his long career, DeMarco also made a significant imprint on many other aspects of education in the Windsor community: as founding chair of the Board of Governors of St Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology (1967-68), elected member of the Essex County School Board, President of the Greater Windsor Foundation (1976-77), member of a number of industry- based scholarship selection committees and other community initiatives.

DeMarco retired from the University of Windsor in 1986 after a full forty years. That same year he was awarded an Honourary Doctorate of Education and was also appointed Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Engineering.

Athletic Career

Frank DeMarco was a superb athlete and received the “University of Toronto Most Versatile Athlete Award.” He played football in what was the highest level of Canadian football in his day, known as the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU), a league that competed for the Grey Cup, and which later evolved into the CFL in the late fifties. DeMarco played for the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers, in the position of end, for three seasons 1943, 1944 and 1945. When he moved to Windsor in 1946 he played quarterback in the same league for the Windsor Rockets.

In hockey, he played three seasons as a defenceman (1943- 45) for the Toronto Staffords, in the Ontario Hockey Association. In 1943 he pitched for Coppercliff Redmen in the Nickel Belt Baseball League when they won Northern Ontario Sr."A" Championship. In later life he excelled in curling and in golf.

In 1987, DeMarco was inducted into the University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sports as an intercollegiate coach at the University. In 1996 he was named to the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame as a founder.

Honours

F. A. DeMarco was the recipient of many Government of Canada and other honours:

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The DeMarco Awards honour University of Windsor students who distinguish themselves in both academics and athletics (portrait by Sergio DiPauli, 1988, commemorating DeMarco's induction into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame)

• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 1953
• Canadian Centennial Medal, 1967
• Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal,1977
• Italian of the Year Award, 1987
• 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, 1992
• University of Windsor Clark Award, 2009

Personal Life

Frank DeMarco married Mary Valenti in 1948. They settled in Windsor, Ontario originally, and then from 1961 on, in nearby LaSalle. They raised twelve children together. Mary was a prolific artist, well-known in the Windsor- Essex County area, particularly as a water-colourist.

Among DeMarco's many grandchildren who followed in his tradition as exemplars of combined academic and athletic excellence are the three Moore brothers, Mark Moore, Steve Moore and Dominic Moore. The brothers all attended Harvard University, and were all three drafted in the National Hockey League entry draft.

Frank and Mary DeMarco are patrons of the University of Windsor DeMarco Trophy ( annual scholarship awarded to athlete-scholar), and of the DeMarco Environmental Engineering Award, and of the Mary DeMarco Fine Arts Scholarship.

Further Reading

• Kathleen McCrone, General Editor, 2013 Back in the Day 1963 to 2013:The University of Windsor as we Knew It; Black Moss Press,Canada

• Madelyn Della Valle, Caterina Lopez, 2009 Impronte: Italian Imprints in Windsor Walkerville Publishing Company, ISBN 0978129083, 9780978129088

• George McMahon, 2013 Father Lebel and the Creation of the University of Windsor; J.M. LeBel Publishers, Dallas, Texas

External Links

• http://www.windsor-communities.com/italian-sports-athlets8.php

• http://web2.uwindsor.ca/alumni/View/spring14/index.html#20

• http://www1.uwindsor.ca/alumni/dr-frank-demarco

• http://wecshof.org/print_individual.php?id=152