setName:"David Jay Bercuson Fonds" found 1 record - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

History / Biographical: David Jay Bercuson was born in Montreal on 31 August 1945, the son of Joseph Myer and Sylvia (Green) Bercuson. As a teenager he attended Monklands High School in Montreal. He attended Sir George Williams University, graduating in June 1966 with Honours in History and winning the Lieutenant-Governor's Silver Medal for the highest standing in history. After graduation he pursued graduate studies at the University of Toronto, earning an MA in history in 1967 and a Ph.D. in 1971. Dr. Bercuson has published in academic and popular publications on a wide range of topics specializing in modern Canadian politics, Canadian defence and foreign policy, and Canadian military history. Dr. Bercuson has written or co-authored more than thirty books and numerous journal articles on the subjects of Canadian Labour, political, diplomatic and military history; the Middle East; Canadian regionalism and constitutional crises; anti-semitism; and higher education in Canada. In 1983, he published The Secret Army, an account of the volunteers from abroad who joined the Israeli military effort during the War of Independence. In 1985, with co-author Douglas Wertheimer, he published A Trust Betrayed: The Keegstra Affair which documented the trial of James Keegstra, an Alberta teacher found guilty of promoting Holocaust denial and anti-semitic views to his students. He has also written for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Calgary Herald, the National Post and other newspapers. In 1988, Bercuson was elected to the Royal Society of Canada and in May 1989, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at The University of Calgary. In 1997 he was appointed Special Advisor to the Minister of National Defence on the Future of the Canadian Forces. In 1998, Concordia University conferred on him the honourary degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. He was a member of the Minister of National Defence’s Monitoring Committee from 1997 to 2003. He served on the Advisory Council on National Security from 2005 to 2008. Since January 1997 he has been the Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Currently he is also the Director of Programs of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, which is based in Calgary. Dr. Bercuson served as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, a Land Force Reserve military engineer unit of the Canadian Forces until November 2010. He is a member of Board of Governors of the Royal Military College of Canada. In 2002 Dr. Bercuson was awarded the J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. In 2003, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Dr. Bercuson’s newest book The Fighting Canadians was published in 2008.

Language: English

Custodial History: Donated directly by Dr. Bercuson.

Arrangement: Arranged by series according to material in fonds.

Access Restrictions: Access Restrictions May Apply On Certain Records. Contact the JPL Archives directly for more information.

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Jewish Public Library Archives