Politician. He is credited as being the Governor General of Canada, serving two terms from 1952 to 1959. Besides this achievement, he was a diplomat, educator, patron of the arts, a Canadian historian, business executive, and royal commissioner. Born Charles Vincent Massey into one of the wealthiest families in Canada, he used his middle name of Vincent, and his one-year-older brother was Academy Award for Best Actor nominated Raymond Massey. After his early education in Canada, which included the University of Toronto, he was educated at Balliol College at Oxford University, earning a degree in art history. Upon graduation, he lectured on modern history at Victoria College at the University of Toronto from 1913 to 1915. As a teenage cadet while at St. Andrew's College, his military career started, and later, he was an officer in the Queen's Own in 1907. During World War I, he was a commissioned officer, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, for Military District No. 12 in Regina of Saskatchewan, but although requested, he did not see any combat service. As a businessman after the war, he managed the Massey-Harris farm tool manufacturing empire, which included the Massey-Ferguson tractor, until 1925. His American-born great-grandfather, Daniel Massey, a simple blacksmith, started the family's successful business in 1847. Following a short stint in the Canadian Cabinet and, although not elected, being a candidate for Parliament in 1925, he became the first diplomat to the United States, serving until 1930. In 1935, Massey was named high commissioner to Britain, a post he held until 1946. He represented Canada at the League of Nations. Upon returning to Canada after World War II, he was made chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1947 to 1953. On February 1, 1952, five days before the death of King George VI, he was made, after 17 British subjects, the first Canadian-born governor general of the Federation of Canada. With his Oxford education, he was known to bring formal English rituals to Canadian celebrations, starting with Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. While in office, he addressed the nation's cultural diversity, stressing learning both the English and French languages. With inherited funding, he helped to establish the Hart House on the campus of the University of Toronto in 1919, and was active in the Hart House Theatre. In 1918, he and other members of his family established the Massey Foundation, the first Canadian trust for a huge collection of paintings. He became the chairman of the Massy Foundation in 1926. While in England, he was a Trustee of the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery from 1941 to 1945 and chair of the Tate from 1943 to 1945. Upon returning to Canada, he became chairman of the National Gallery of Canada from 1948 to 1952. In 1949, he was named the chair of the influential Royal Commission of the National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences, which is called the Massey Commission in the 21st century. Supporting the nation's arts, he was a campaigner for the National Library of Canada and the National Arts Centre in the 1950s. He married Alice Parkin on June 4, 1915, and the couple had two sons, Lionel and Hart before he became a widower in 1950. His daughter-in-law Lilias served as hostess for his political events. In 1949, he published his book, "On Being Canadian." On September 15, 1959, he retired from public life but continued to be the chairman of the Massey Foundation. On July 22, 1960, as the first Canadian, he was awarded the Royal Victorian Chain by Queen Elizabeth II. With funding from the Massey Foundation, he partially established Massey College, an all-male facility, at the University of Toronto in 1963, which was modeled on his experience at Oxford. Dying while on a visit to London, his remains were repatriated to Canada for a state funeral.