Gordon F. Henderson

Early Life

Gordon F. Henderson was the only child of his mother, Charlotte (née Stratton), and his father, Gordon Henderson, a prominent defence lawyer. The younger Henderson earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto in 1934 and a law degree at Osgoode Hall in 1937.

Henderson joined his father’s Ottawa law firm, Henderson Herridge & Gowling, in 1937. It was there he met Gordon Gowling, with whom he became a long-time friend and colleague. Henderson became a senior partner and board chair with a firm that experienced changes and growth. It eventually became Gowling WLG.

Personal Life

In 1942, Gordon Henderson married Joan Parkins, a champion amateur figure skater. They had two sons and a daughter and nine grandchildren together.

Legal Career

Gordon F. Henderson became an expert and national leader in intellectual property; that is, the protection of one’s ideas and creations from those who would steal or use them for their advantage. In 1941, Henderson founded the Canadian Patent Reports. For the first time, there was a single resource that listed all Canadian patents. For over 50 years, Henderson edited the annual updates to keep the record current.

Henderson led the creation of the Canadian Law Information Council in 1973. It was a pioneer in efforts to allow online access to legal information. Henderson also played an important role in creating the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada. The organization is comprised of patent agents, law firms and lawyers from across Canada who are involved in intellectual property protection. It seeks to enhance members’ expertise while advocating for legislative improvements.

In the 1970s, Henderson was the lawyer for and then vice-president and president of Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). BMI collected royalties when songs were broadcast on radio, television, in movies, or performed live. It then paid the appropriate artists. In 1976, Henderson spearheaded the negotiations that led to BMI becoming Canadian and changing its name to the Performing Rights Organization of Canada Limited (PROCAN). Henderson was also involved in the merger of PROCAN with the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada Limited (CAPAC) to create the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) in 1990. The merger afforded more copyright protection and improved the payment of royalties to those in the Canadian music industry. Henderson later became SOCAN’s lawyer and board chair.

Throughout his career, Henderson appeared in more than 400 court cases, including 90 before the Supreme Court of Canada. He was also president of the Canadian Bar Association in 1978–79.

Business Career

In 1964, Gordon F. Henderson and his partner, Howard Darwin, founded Ottawa Cablevision. At a time when nearly all homes had access to only a few local TV channels, Ottawa Cablevision offered subscribers a range of channels for a monthly subscription fee. Henderson was the company’s president. Similar companies were formed and Ottawa’s municipal government designated areas for each to operate. Within several years, more than 30 per cent of those with televisions in Nepean Township were Ottawa Cablevision subscribers.

In 1966, Henderson and 10 partners purchased the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Rough Riders (now the Ottawa Redblacks). The team played in the Grey Cup in 1966 and then won the Cup in 1968 and 1969. Henderson and the others sold the team to David Loeb in 1969. In 1987, Henderson shared ownership of the team again when it was transferred to public ownership and he purchased shares.

Other Activities

Gordon F. Henderson’s wife, Joan, served on numerous boards including Skate Canada, Selkirk Communications and the Ottawa Civic Hospital Foundation. Together, they established the Gordon and Joan Henderson Endowment Fund at the Ottawa Hospital. Through the Community Foundation of Ottawa, they initiated the creation of the Gordon and Joan Henderson Family Fund, Gordon F. Henderson Fund for Law Students, and the Gordon F. Henderson Memorial Fund.

Henderson enjoyed a long association with the University of Ottawa. In 1991, he became its chancellor. The university presents the annual Gordon F. Henderson Speaker Series on Refugee History. Henderson also served on the senate of the Stratford Festival.

Death

Gordon Henderson died in Ottawa on 17 August 1993. He was 81. His funeral was attended by 1,300 people.

Honours

Gordon F. Henderson was awarded the Queen’s Counsel in 1953. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1977 and promoted to Companion in 1988. His citation called him “one of Canada’s top lawyers” and recognized his “numerous contributions to the legal profession in Canada and to community organizations in Ottawa.” In 1990, the annual contest for the law student or articling lawyer who writes the best essay on issues related to copyright in the music industry was renamed the Gordon F. Henderson/SOCAN Copyright Competition.

Henderson was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa (1979), the Law Society of Upper Canada (1982) and Carleton University (1984). In 1988, he received the Award of Merit of the B'nai B'rith Foundation. The County of Carleton Law Association’s library, located in the Ottawa courthouse, is named after Henderson. It bestows the annual Gordon F. Henderson Award to someone in the legal profession who makes a significant contribution to the welfare of the community through charitable services.