Leslie Few

Biography

Leslie Few was born in Sandiacre, Nottingham, England on April 12, 1915, one of eight children. Few's father Charles was a master builder; inspired by this connection Few and several of his brothers went into the construction business. During the Second World War, Few was seconded to the Royal Engineers and served in Kenya, supervising hangers for Royal Canadian Air Force planes and training local militia. Serving outside of a fighting zone, he did not return home until early 1947. Few joined the construction firm of Racy McCallum, who, in May 1956, sent him to Canada, specifically to North Bay, Ontario to oversee work on the Distant Early Warning (DEW Line) System. Construction took him to many parts of the country over the next few years.

In 1964, he joined Shokbeton (Netherlands) LLP to work on the Olympic stadium in Montreal for the 1976 Olympics. Few then moved to Winnipeg to supervise construction of the Richardson Building, Board of Grain Commissioners and several apartment blocks. The Olympic contract was directly responsible for his commission with Rod Robbie Architects Limited, to plan, develop and supervise the building of the SkyDome in Toronto, a project that was a personal favourite.