James Rodney Winter Sykes was a Canadian politician from Alberta.
26 Facts About Rod Sykes
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Rod Sykes served as the 30th Mayor of Calgary from 1969 to 1977 and as leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party from 1980 to 1982.
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Rod Sykes ran as a Liberal candidate in the 1984 federal election.
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The Rod Sykes family moved shortly after his birth to Sooke, British Columbia.
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Rod Sykes's father was largely absent from the home, working out of the community, and Rod Sykes did not attend a formal school until the age of 8 in 1937 when the family moved to Kent.
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The Rod Sykes family returned to Victoria, British Columbia a year later after the death of his grandfather James Rod Sykes to live in his inherited home.
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Rod Sykes lashed out during his time at school and was often in trouble.
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Rod Sykes later attended Oak Bay High School, which he saw as a turning point in his life, and was able to catch up with his education in what he described as a positive environment.
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Sykes's father returned from the Second World War when his son was 17, and Rod soon moved out of the family home due to animosity with his father.
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Rod Sykes considered a career in law, but attended Sprott Shaw College to take classes in business, and began working in an apprenticeship at a small accounting firm.
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At 19, Rod Sykes reported the principal of the firm to the Institute of Chartered Accountants after he was forced to present falsified figures for a client to a bank, the Institute arranged for Rod Sykes to continue his career at Price Waterhouse.
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Rod Sykes joined Canadian Pacific Railway as the Supervisor of Economic Projects in 1959 at the invitation of Ian David Sinclair.
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Rod Sykes's role was to better utilize the CPR's non-transportation assets such as oil, gas, forestry, real estate, chemicals and metal holdings.
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Rod Sykes spent much of his time travelling between his home in Montreal and Calgary, where the CPR was considering moving tracks out of the city's downtown and use the land for real estate development.
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Rod Sykes moved to Calgary in 1962 as the CPR's Project Manager for the Calgary land use study.
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In Calgary, Rod Sykes established and ran the CPR's real estate arm Marathon Realty, which Rod Sykes named after the short story The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.
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When Hays quit municipal politics to run federally in 1963, he was replaced with Grant MacEwan for two years, with whom Rod Sykes had a challenging relationship.
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Rod Sykes served as mayor of Calgary from 1969 to 1977.
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Rod Sykes was defender of the underdog and the importance of financial safety nets for the needy, attacked corruption among the rich and powerful, and left office after ensuring Calgary would begin on LRT construction.
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Rod Sykes was leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party from 1980 to 1982.
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Rod Sykes quit as party leader in 1982, frustrated by the party's internal and financial problems.
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Rod Sykes was acclaimed at a nomination meeting with over six hundred members in attendance.
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At an early age Rod Sykes took an interest in gardening, reading, and stamp collecting, and remained a member of the American Philatelic Society throughout his life.
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Rod Sykes was raised as a Christian in the Church of England, but later converted to Catholicism in his mid-20s.
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Rod Sykes was a long-time friend of professional wrestler and promoter Stu Hart.
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Rod Sykes died at his home in Calgary, on January 3,2025, at the age of 95.