William Arthur Steel

William Arthur Steel (November 3, 1890 – November 28, 1968) was Canadian Army officer during World War I and radio pioneer.

Steel was born in 1890 in Castleton, Ontario and graduated from electrical engineering from the University of Toronto in 1915^[1]

Military career

After graduation he joined the Canadian Army ((Permanent Active Militia) in World War I in France as a wireless officer. Post war he became Chief Wireless Officer with the Canadian Army Signals Corps^[2] and was in charge of the National Research Council's radio laboratory in the early 1930s.^[3]

Later years

Steel retired as Lieutenant Colonel in 1936, and later served as a Commissioner with the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, which became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was involved with the William Duncan Herridge in the New Democracy, a party that advocated social credit in the late 1930s and early 1940s.^[2] Steel helped create radio network in the Northwest Territories and radio for civil aviation in Canada.^[1]

Steel later worked as consultant and involved in the DEW Line.

Death

He died in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1968^[2] and buried at Beechwood Cemetery.^[1]

References