Levee, Roy (1935-)

Born on August 7, 1935, to Glenn and Ella Levee, Roy grew up on the family farm near Radville, Saskatchewan. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1957 with a BSc in agriculture, and was honoured with a Distinguished Agrologist Award in 1984. Levee (pronounced lee-vee) joined the family farming business in 1955. His wintertime off-farm employment over the years included urban assessment work with the Provincial Assessment Branch, and instructing farm business management for the provincial Department of Agriculture. His most notable achievement was his commitment to the Weyburn Inland Terminal (WIT), Canada’s first inland grain terminal owned and operated by farmers.

Levee became a shareholder in the WIT in 1977, less than a year after the large grain facility opened on the outskirts of Weyburn. He was a WIT board member from 1977 to 1986, 1988 to 1995, and from December 1998 to April 1999. Except for 1977, Levee was an executive member of the board during all those years. In 1999, he was appointed to a non-voting position on the board as vice-president of corporate affairs. In 2003, he began his semi-retirement, leaving the farming to his son Kim, his son-in-law Lorne and his daughter Pam. Levee is credited for using his business and corporate sensibility as well as his interpersonal skills to save the terminal from bankruptcy in its early stages and help it grow through other tumultuous times. Walter Nelson, a Moose Jaw area farmer and businessman who is also a long-time WIT supporter, said Levee helped put the mark of “personal attention” on the terminal to make it appeal to farmer clients.

Deana Driver