David French, OC

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 (January 18, 1939December 5, 2010) was a Canadian playwright.
French was born in the tiny Newfoundland outport of Coley’s Point, the middle child in a family of five boys. His father, Garfield French, was a carpenter, and during World War II worked for the Eastern Air Command

Eastern Air Command

Eastern Air Command may refer to the following military formations:* Eastern Air Command, Indian Air Force* a former home defence command of the Royal Canadian Air Force* Allied air force units under South East Asia Command, during 1944–45...

 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. After the war, David’s mother, Edith, came to Ontario with the boys to join their father and the family settled in Toronto among a thriving community of Newfoundlandian immigrants.

French attended Rawlinson Public School, Harbord Collegiate, and Oakwood Collegiate.