Leon Joseph Koerner (1892-1972)

Having fled Nazi occupation, Czech-Jewish immigrant Joseph Leon Koerner was a leading figure in British Columbia’s forest industry in the 1940s and 1950s. He developed an innovative use of western hemlock, an abundant yet ignored wood, and promoted conservation practices including selective logging, reforestation, and the implementation of a sustained-yield policy. He made significant improvements in working conditions for forest workers by setting standards for workplace safety and cleanliness, benefits, and fair wages, and by establishing logging camps and company towns that became models for the industry. Koerner and his wife Thea returned much of their wealth to Canada, and established the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation, supporting the arts, education, and social programmes in British Columbia.

Leon Joseph Koerner was born on May 12th, 1892 in Nový Hrozenkov, a small town in Moravia, in the eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic, the second of ten children of a prominent Austro-Hungarian lumbering family of Slav and Jewish ancestry. In 1920, he took over leadership of his family’s international lumber company and became a well-known expert in the European lumber industry. However, in September 1938, the territorial ambitions of the German Reich and its anti-Semitic policies drove Koerner and members of his family to abandon their homes, possessions, and the successful family business in order to find refuge elsewhere in Europe.

Koerner went to London, United Kingdom, and then the following year, he and his wife Thea embarked on an extended vacation in North America. The holiday was cut short when, upon arrival in Vancouver, Thea developed a severe case of the mumps. While awaiting his wife’s recovery, Koerner investigated British Columbia’s coastal forest and lumber industries and realized untapped opportunities. Almost immediately, he made a down payment on a defunct lumber mill in New Westminster and began hiring local workers. By July 1939, the mill had been refitted and began production, marking the beginnings of the modest Alaska Pine Company that burgeoned into one of the largest wood products manufacturers in British Columbia during the 1940s and 1950s. For almost 15 years, Koerner played a leading role in the British Columbia forest industry. With progressive ideas on labour relations acquired in Europe, he offered substantial benefits to his employees in terms of life, health care and accident insurance, and created a company bargaining agent until the workers were certified under the International Woodworkers of America in 1943.

Leon and Thea Koerner became known as generous philanthropists, dedicated to improving opportunities in post-secondary education, the arts and culture, and social welfare development. In 1955, they established the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation for that purpose, and made numerous donations to the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. They generously donated to the construction of the Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre, and following Thea’s death in July 1959, Koerner funded the building of a campus centre for UBC graduate students, naming it the Thea Koerner House in her memory.