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Support Dr. John Lacey’s Legacy at Contemporary Calgary.

Petroleum engineer, international consultant and champion of the arts.

Dr. John Lacey was a valued board member of Contemporary Calgary, bringing thoughtful commentary and insight to every meeting and demonstrating unparalleled leadership in the arts.

He shared one of his ideas in his very first meeting with CEO David Leinster: relocating the Brotherhood of Mankind by Mario Armegol from its current location at 1 Street and 6 Avenue SE to Contemporary Calgary, located in the 1967 Centennial Planetarium. The sculpture was part of the British Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal. Dr. John spoke about his pride in both being from Britain and calling Calgary home, and how fitting it would be if we could unite these magnificent sculptures with our bold and ambitious plans.

The City of Calgary, the current owner of this remarkable sculpture, recently expressed support for this relocation.

Your donation to Contemporary Calgary can help make Dr. John's idea a reality while also supporting contemporary art in Calgary. 

Thank you for contributing to his legacy.

Dr. John Robert Lacey, Ph.D C.M.

December 4, 1932 – Leatherhead, Surrey, UK
September 9, 2026 – Calgary, Alberta

John Robert Lacey, the Calgary petroleum engineer and international consultant who believed that a great city required a great arts community, died Wednesday, September 9, 2026. He was 93.

For much of his life, Dr. Lacey moved comfortably between worlds: petroleum fields and concert halls, international business and Canadian cultural institutions. He built a successful global consulting practice, served as a diplomat, and became one of Calgary's most persistent and generous supporters of the arts.

Born December 4, 1932, Dr. Lacey earned his PhD in petroleum engineering from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London in 1956. That year he married Naomi Jameson, beginning a marriage that would last 61 years. The newly married couple left for Calgary, a city that would become their home for their family for the next seven decades.

In 1971, Dr. Lacey established John R. Lacey International Consulting, drawing on his petroleum expertise to advise clients around the world. Over the next 45 years, he built the firm into an international operation while maintaining the curiosity and energy that had characterized his early career.

But it was Calgary's cultural life that became one of his enduring passions.

Dr. Lacey believed that economic prosperity alone could not make a city great. A city also needed music, galleries, artists, students and places where people could engage with the arts. He acted on that belief with the same determination he had brought to his professional life.

He helped establish the Friends of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and became a major supporter of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He funded the Virtuoso Program, providing support for musical excellence and emerging talent, and helped create fundraising events including Cork and Canvas and Ad Astra.

His interest in music extended to education. He served as Chair of the Mount Royal University Conservatory Advisory Committee, helping support the Conservatory's role in Calgary's musical and educational life.

The visual arts were equally important to him. Dr. Lacey donated to the National Gallery of Canada and established the biennial Lacey Prize for Artist-Run Galleries, recognizing the contribution of artist-run centres to Canada's cultural landscape. He also served as a director of Contemporary Calgary, the city's contemporary art museum.

His philanthropy was not confined to culture. Dr. Lacey served as Chair of the PaCER Center, bringing his experience and leadership to its work. His professional relationship with Thailand, developed through years of work there, led to his appointment as Consul General for Western Canada. He was also a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and received numerous honours from the Thai government.

Recognition followed throughout his later years. In 2018, Dr. Lacey received an Honorary Bachelor of Arts from Mount Royal University and was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame. The following year, the University of Calgary awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws. In 2020, he received the Grant MacEwan Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2022, he was invested into the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honours, and received the Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal.

Yet the formal honours only partly explain Dr. Lacey's legacy. Those who worked with him knew him as a man who was willing to put his time, resources and reputation behind institutions he believed mattered. He saw philanthropy not simply as giving money, but as helping build organizations that could strengthen a community for generations.

Calgary, in particular, benefited from that conviction. Over 70 years, Dr. Lacey watched the city grow from the place where he and his young wife arrived in 1956 into an international centre for oil and gas as well as the arts. He believed that its cultural ambitions should grow alongside its economic ones.

His legacy can be found in concert programs and classrooms, galleries and museums, and in the opportunities made possible for artists and musicians. It is also found in the many institutions he supported and in the people who came to believe, as he did, that the arts are not an ornament to a city but one of the things that makes a city worth calling home.

Dr. Lacey is survived by his children, Martin, Louise, and William; his seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and his close companion, Linda McNally.

Memorial Services will be held at Contemporary Calgary (701 11 St SW, Calgary, AB) on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Contemporary Calgary at www.contemporarycalgary.com, or to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra at www.calgaryphil.com.

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