[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Pennell_Larry.jpg” caption=”Larry Pennell passed away at the age of 93. He served as McMaster’s 12th chancellor from 1971 to 1977. Photo courtesy of McMaster Alumni Association.”]Former McMaster chancellor Larry Pennell passed away on the weekend at the age of 93.

A graduate of the class of 1938, he went on to study law at Osgoode Hall. Pennell served overseas in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1945 and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant. He returned to Brantford where he practiced law.

Pennell won election to the House of Commons three times, representing Brant-Haldimand from 1962 to 1968. He was named to cabinet as minister without portfolio by Prime Minister Lester Pearson in 1965 and promoted to solicitor general the following year. Shortly after retiring from Parliament in 1968, he was appointed to the High Court of Justice division of the Supreme Court of Ontario. He retired from the bench in 1986.

Pennell was also an active volunteer in the community, serving on the Ontario Mental Health Review Board, as chair of the Brantford Parks Board and Brantford & Suburban Planning Board, and as president of the Brantford Bar Association and the Optimist Club.

He may be best remembered at McMaster for his service as the University's 12th chancellor from 1971 to 1977.

Pennell was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1959 and was named Brantford's citizen of the year in 1969. He was also honoured at his alma mater with an honorary degree (1970), the inaugural MSU Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership (1987), and induction into the Alumni Gallery (1992).