Ralph Kenneth Larmour was born December 17, 1894 in Irena, Ontario. He spent his youth in Morrisburg and later taught school in rural Ontario and Saskatchewan. During World War One, Larmour served with the 78th Winnipeg Grenadiers and received the Military Medal following action at Passchendaele. In 1919, he enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan, earning both a B.Sc. (1923) and M.Sc. (1925); in 1927 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Larmour joined the Department of Chemistry in 1927 and for the next 18 years built a solid reputation for research in cereal chemistry. During those years, he was also active with the Canadian Officers Training Corps (COTC). In 1945, Dr. Larmour accepted an appointment as Director of Research of the National Research Council's newly established Prairie Regional Laboratory in Saskatoon, where he remained until 1947. Concurrent with this appointment, he served as Scientific Advisor to the Canadian High Commissioner in London. From 1945 to 1963, Larmour served as the first Director of Research of Maple Leaf Mills, Toronto. Larmour retired in 1963 and settled in Grimsby, Ontario, where he died in 1970.