Stuart Allan Thiesson, a long-time advocate for farmer interests and healthy rural communities, has died at the age of 93.
Thiesson was born in 1928 and grew up in the hamlet of McMahon, Sask., south of Swift Current.
Soon after moving to Saskatoon in the early 1950s, he took a job with the Saskatchewan Farmers Union, eventually becoming the organization’s secretary treasurer in 1955.
In 1969, when the National Farmers Union was formed, Thiesson was appointed its first executive secretary.
In that post, he helped organize and promote orderly marketing and supply-management systems in Saskatchewan and across Canada.
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He also served as editor of the NFU’s Union Farmer newspaper from 1974 to 1981, forging a reputation as a champion of farmer interests and “friend of the farmer.”
Thiesson’s “analytical and writing skills provided clarity and credibility to farm union policy, and his people skills ensured that the NFU and the larger movement were united and focused on important concerns,” says a biography posted on the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame’s website.
“Stuart personally put the philosophy and beliefs of the Farm Union into practice every day through his involvement in the community.”
Thiesson served as NFU executive secretary until 1992.
During his time in Saskatoon, he also served on the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board from 1961 to 1964, Statistics Canada’s advisory committee on agriculture from 1985 to 1998, and was a founding director with the Saskatoon Community Clinic.
He was also a founding board member with the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame, where he served as a director from 1971 until 1981.
Thiesson was inducted into the hall of fame in 2007.
In 2000, he was awarded an honourary doctor of laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan.
Thiesson passed away Jan. 14 in Saskatoon.
