Ottawa Citizen - Canadian played pivotal role in Green Revolution; Born in Ottawa, he was first president of the IDRC

Knee-deep in rice paddies with India's poorest peasants in the late 1960s, Ottawa-born W. David Hopper researched the potential of new varieties of wheat and rice to feed the starving masses. The adventurous agricultural economist might have remained there, unknown to Canadians, but two heavyweights from his homeland came calling. Former prime minister Lester B. Pearson and Maurice Strong, the newly-appointed head of the External Aid Office, were united in their passion to put some heft in Canada's assistance to developing countries.

Born in Ottawa on Feb. 22, 1927, Hopper's father was a civil servant. Hopper's brother, Wilbert, would become an executive with Imperial Oil, and go on to be the first CEO of the newly established national oil company, Petro-Canada. Hopper, however, was drawn to the developing world. He completed a degree in agriculture at McGill University in 1950 and obtained his PhD in agricultural economics and cultural anthropology from Cornell University in 1957.

He spent two years studying the economic organization of a village in India to gather material for his PhD dissertation. He worked briefly as an associate professor in agricultural economics at the Ontario Agricultural College, as well as Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota, before heading back to India to take up posts with both the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.

Hopper, who died last month in Washington, D.C., at age 84, is recalled as a visionary leader who passionately believed the problems of poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation could be improved with science and technology. He also believed that academics from the developing world should be at the forefront.