death_date death_place children birth_place imagesize nationality name birth_date spouse image article_title birth_name occupation alma_mater
26 july 1984 ottawa , ontario , canada digby , yolande ethelbert , manitoba , canada 190px canadian john ross mclean 05 july 1905 beverley cosh john_ross_mclean . jpg ross mclean -lrb- civil servant -rrb-
 john ross mclean civil servant , journalist university -lrb- b.litt . -rrb- university of oxford -lrb- m.litt . of -rrb- manitoba -lrb- m.a. -rrb- university of oxford
ross mclean -lrb- civil servant -rrb-

john ross mclean , the 11th of 12 children of a northern manitoba minister and farmer , was born in the small prairie village of ethelbert in 1905 .
he became a canadian journalist and civil servant .
in the latter role he served as the commissioner of the national film board of canada -lrb- nfb -rrb- in the 1940s , having previously been instrumental in the foundation of the board the previous decade .
