William Lishman

William (Bill) Lishman M.S.M., L,L,D. (hon) ( b. 1939 - 2017)

Lishman was a world-renowned inventor and artist in many media. His works include award-winning documentary films, three books, and numerous works of public art, including a 26 meter tall sculpture for EXPO 86 in Vancouver, twenty figures for the Bridgepoint hospital in Toronto, and Canada’s largest salmon sculpture in Campbellton NB. His 1996 best selling autobiography inspired the Columbia Pictures Oscar nominated film, Fly Away Home, as well as the Jaques Perrin feature film The Winged Migration.

Bill was a pioneer in ultra-light aviation and became the first human to lead birds in the air with an aircraft. Building on that he initiated the use of ultra-light aircraft in establishing new migration routes for precocial birds.

In 2015 he published his third book, The Oak Ridges Moraine From Above and also completed a 13-meter tall stainless steel iceberg sculpture for the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

In his later years, Bill's passion built on his pioneering work in domed earth integrated architecture and is a concept for a new form of communal living for extreme climates particularly to fit the need of the Indigenous peoples of Canada’s north.

Bill received numerous awards including the Odyssey of the Mind's prestigious Creativity Award, The Canadian Meritorious Service Medal, the US National Wildlife Federation Conservation award, and two honorary doctorates.