Background
SIMPSON, ROBERT was born on December 8, 1943 in Amarillo, Texas, United States.
SIMPSON, ROBERT was born on December 8, 1943 in Amarillo, Texas, United States.
Robert Simpson was born in Chatham, New Brunswick, in 1943. He graduated from Chatham High School in 1962 and went on to obtain a Bachelor, Bachelor of Education, and Master of Education from the University of New Brunswick. He was a teacher, Vice Principal, and Principal in the school systems of Nackawic and Canterbury, New Brunswick. He is married to Rowena Simpson, a former mayor of Nackawic.
He served as Mayor of Nackawic from 1974-1983. During this time, the Village, formed only in 1968, was formally incorporated as a Town (1976). He was the founding president of Western New Brunswick Crimestoppers Association and served as the Vice President of the Towns of New Brunswick Association.
In 1985, he contested the Liberal nomination for the provincial riding of York North.
He was elected as the Liberal member for York North in the 1987 electoral sweep by the Liberal Party, winning the seat for the Liberals with a plurality of over 3500 votes in a traditionally Tory seat. All 58 seats in New Brunswick were captured by Frank McKenna"s Liberals in that historic election.
Robert Simpson became the first Liberal elected in the riding of York North since 1953. He distinguished himself in the Legislative Assembly, serving as the Labour advocate and as the Company-Chair of the Select Committee on the Meech Lake Accord.
New Brunswick"s stand on the Meech Lake Accord was one of the pivotal moments in the national debate on the Accord, which eventually met its demise following the failure of the Manitoba legislature to ratify lieutenant
He also served on the Law Amendments Committee and the Crown Corporations Committee, as well as serving as the Chair of the Economic Policy Development Committee. Simpson went on to serve as Chair of the Board of the Region 3 Health Corporation (later, River Valley Health) in New Brunswick. From 2001 - 2008, he was the Executive Director of the New Brunswick Healthcare Association, a federation of the province"s 8 regional health authorities.
From 2008-2010, he served as the Executive Director of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, helping to establish a firm footing for funded health research in New Brunswick.
Six candidates vied for the nomination, and the nomination convention held in Fredericton attracted 2400 attendees - the largest individual riding nomination meeting in the history of elected politics in New Brunswick. He was defeated in 1991 by Greg Hargrove, the candidate representing the anti-bilingualism Confederation of Regions Party (CoR), which opposed official bilingualism in New Brunswick.
Travis County and American Bar Associations. State Bar of Texas (Member, Sections on: Administrative and Public Law. Corporation.