Lincoln Alexander

The Honourable Lincoln Alexander PC CC OOnt CD QC
Alexander in 2005
24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
In office September 20, 1985 – December 10, 1991
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Jeanne Sauvé Ray Hnatyshyn
Premier	David Peterson Bob Rae
Preceded by	John Black Aird
Succeeded by	Hal Jackman
Minister of Labour
In office June 4, 1979 – March 2, 1980
Prime Minister	Joe Clark
Preceded by	Martin O'Connell
Succeeded by	Gerald Regan
Member of Parliament for Hamilton West
In office June 25, 1968 – May 28, 1980
Preceded by	Joseph Macaluso
Succeeded by	Stanley Hudecki
Personal details
Born	Lincoln MacCauley Alexander (1922-01-21)January 21, 1922 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	October 19, 2012(2012-10-19) (aged 90) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouses	Yvonne Harrison ​ ​ (m. 1948; died 1999)​ Marni Beal ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	Keith Lincoln Alexander
Alma mater	McMaster University York University, Osgoode Hall Law School
Occupation	Barrister solicitor
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Canadian Air Force
Years of service	1942–45
Rank	Corporal
Battles/wars	World War II

Lincoln MacCauley Alexander PC CC OOnt CD QC (January 21, 1922 – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who became the first Black Canadian to be a member of Parliament in the House of Commons, a federal Cabinet Minister (as federal Minister of Labour), a Chair of the Worker's Compensation Board of Ontario, and the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991. Alexander was also a governor of the Canadian Unity Council.

Alexander was born in Toronto to Caribbean immigrant parents. After service during World War II, he received a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University in 1949 before earning his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1953. A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, he became the first black Member of Parliament in Canadian history after being elected to the House of Commons in the 1968 Canadian federal election. He was named Minister of Labour in 1979 under prime minister Joe Clark, holding the position until the PC party's defeat in the 1980 election. He resigned from the House of Commons later that year and became Chair of the Worker's Compensation Board of Ontario.

In 1985, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, holding the position until 1991. From 1991 to 2007, he became Chancellor of the University of Guelph, becoming the first person to serve five terms in that capacity.^[1] He died in 2012 and was accorded a state funeral. Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University)'s faculty of law was renamed in his honour in 2021.