Richard Rohmer

Military career

He was an unexceptional student in high school and worked briefly at Fleet Aerospace before joining in 1942 on his 18th birthday the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In Europe in 1943/44 as a reconnaissance pilot flying North American Mustang fighters he completed a 135 mission Tour of Operations at the end of November 1944 in Holland. On July 17th, 1944, he had spotted a fast moving staff car, usually used to carry German officers. In this case, the German officer being carried was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rohmer reported the car's location to Group Control Centre, which sent in a Spitfire flown by a pilot, Later Identified as Canadian Charley Fox who strafed the target and seriously wounded Rommel. Rohmer took part in D-Day and the Battles of Normandy, Belgium and Holland. He is the Senior Canadian Veteran of all of those Battles.

In 1950 he returned to the RCAF (Reserve), flying Vampire jets and commanding 400 Squadron (City of Toronto) and 411 Squadron (County of York). He retired in 1953 as a Wing Commander.

In 1971 he was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel (and later Honorary Colonel) of 411 Air Reserve Squadron. In April, 1975 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed Senior Air Reserve Advisor. On 1 April 1976 he was appointed Commander of the newly formed Air Reserve Group. On 31 January 1978 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General and appointed Chief of Reserves. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of Military Merit in December, 1978, and left the military in January 1981.

On 22 December 2014, Major-General (Retired) Rohmer was named Honorary Advisor to the Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, a position "...created to recognize MGen (Ret’d) Rohmer’s contributions to the Canadian Armed Forces, and the unique advice and guidance that he provides to the Chief of the Defence Staff, drawing from his wealth of experience in service to Canada".

On 26 June 2015, in his capacity as Honorary Advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rohmer was promoted to the rank of Honorary Lieutenant General by the outgoing and incoming Chiefs of the Defence Staff.

Professions

As the senior lawyer and member of the Ontario Bar Rohmer is active in a range of legal, veterans' and corporate activities as well as honorary posts in a number of organizations. He is an active senior member of the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn with a boutique international and national aviation and commercial litigation practice. Called to the Bar in 1951 and Queen's Counsel in 1960, he continues to practice. He was chairman of the 60th anniversary of D-Day celebrations that took place in the presence of the Queen at Juno Beach in Normandy on 6 June 2004. As Ministerial Advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs he took part in the planning, preparation and execution of the government's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day at Juno Beach, France, 6 June 2014, and is similarly engaged in the plans for the in-Holland Canadian celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, 5 May 2015. He is the Senior Canadian Veteran of both of those Battles - Normandy and Holland. He co-chaired the Ontario advisory committee that created the Veterans' Memorial unveiled 17 September 2006 in front of the provincial legislature at Queen's Park. He was chair of the Premier's Ceremonial Advisory Committee (2006-2014) and was a ten-year member of the Advisory Council of the Order of Ontario.

Rohmer is the honorary deputy commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, the honorary chief of Toronto Paramedic Services, patron of the Toronto St. John's Ambulance (1978–2007), honorary fire chief of Collingwood, Ontario and Honorary Chief of Toronto Police Service. In 2012, the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs named General Rohmer the first honorary Chief of Paramedics in Ontario.

While living in Toronto in the 1950s, he was heavily involved in the Don Mills Progressive Conservative riding association and, in 1958, he challenged Hollis Edward Beckett, the incumbent Progressive Conservative MPP in the adjacent riding of York East, for the Conservative nomination for the 1959 general election. While the incumbent was successful in being renominated, Rohmer became an advisor to John Robarts during his successful campaign to win the leadership of the PC Party of Ontario and, in so doing, become premier.

During the height of his law practice he was counsel before several administrative tribunals in the land use and transportation fields. His major Official Plan change success occurred in 1972 when as Counsel for CN and CP Railways and their subsidiaries he appeared before the Ontario Municipal Board in a six-week contested hearing that resulted in the change of the Official Plan for all of the railway use lands around Union Station (Toronto) from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street (185 acres) to a high density mix of residential, commercial, entertainment, hotels, sport centres and other uses including construction of the CN Tower. That Official Plan is the basis for over 43 years of enormous development on the lands - lands then and now worth billions of dollars. It was/is the largest Official Plan change in the history of Canada.

He was twice chancellor of the University of Windsor, serving a total of 13 years. In 1978 he negotiated the donation to the university of Conrad Black's collection of Duplessis papers in exchange for an honorary degree.

He was a charter member of his local (Don Mills) Civitan club, and he served as treasurer of the international organization. His position allowed him to meet U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to present Civitan's World Citizenship Award.

Literary activities

Two of Rohmer's better-known novels are Ultimatum and Separation. Ultimatum, published in 1973, features political, economic, and energy crisis themes as well as the author's opinion about the viability of the Canadian nation. It is Rohmer's most popular novel and it was the best-selling novel in Canada in 1973. Three years later, Rohmer published Separation, a novel with domestic and international political themes surrounding the ambition of Quebec separatists to establish the Canadian province as a separate nation. It stayed on the Toronto Star's best-seller list for 22 weeks. Separation was made into a television movie in 1977, and aired on the CTV network. Barry Morse was cast for a brief appearance as the British prime minister.

Rohmer chaired the Royal Commission on Book Publishing in 1971/72. He is a known Canadian author of both fiction and non-fiction; throughout his literary career he has published over thirty books. His most recent non-fiction is The Building of the CN Tower published 2011 by RailCore Press Inc. of which he is president. His most recent novel, Ultimatum 2 was published early 2007. It fictionalizes a confrontation between the US and Russia against Canada over the building of an international high level nuclear waste disposal site in Arctic Canada. The second edition of his historical novel on the 1866/67 Canadian negotiations with the British for autonomy under the British North American Act is Sir John A's Crusade and Seward's Magnificent Folly, with a Downton Abbey connection.

Family

Rohmer lives with his wife Mary-O in Collingwood, Ontario and practises aviation litigation with the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn. He has two daughters, Ann Rohmer, a TV personality, and Catherine, a lawyer. He is a licensed pilot.

Honours

Honorary Degrees

Richard Rohmer Has Received Many Honorary Degrees in recognition of His Service to Canada, these include: