Head and shoulders image of Dr. Leonard H. Shebeski, professor, Department of Field Husbandry, 1947-1953. Taken possibly at the time of presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Leonard Hylary Shebeski was born in 1914 in Aubigny, Manitoba. In his early twenties, Dr. Shebeski entered into the University of Manitoba where he received his BSA (1941) and his MSc (1946). His academic career was disturbed, as were so many others of his era, by the Second World War. Dr. Shebeski joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in March 1941 and excelled as a pilot. He was mentioned in Despatches in 1944. Dr. Shebeski was discharged (Honourable) in October 1945. He immediately returned to his academic work, studying for his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1946-1947. In 1947 Dr. Shebeski accepted the University of Saskatchewan's offer of an assistant professorship. Within the year he was promoted to associate professor. He left the U of S in 1953 to take up full professorship and to become head of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Shebeski died on 3 August 2010 in Victoria, British Columbia, at age 95.