Inducted: November 29, 1989
Mr. Drew started farming early. When he was 11, his father, William Drew, died and he took on the responsibility of helping his mother operate the family farm.
Mr. Drew acquired a farm on Concession 10, Raleigh Township on his marriage to Louisa Wellwood in 1900. Their farming operation was typical of self-sufficient farms of that period; with cereal crops, sugar beets, tomatoes, dual-purpose cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, and an orchard with peaches, pears, quinces, cherries and apricots.
Mr. Drew's interest in agriculture and the community was reflected in his 30 years as Secretary of the Raleigh-Tilbury East Agricultural Society. He helped establish the Burley Tobacco Marketing Association of Ontario at a time when Burley returns were at an all-time low; and he was the Association's Chairman for the decade before his death in 1949.
Mr. Drew was also one of the founders of the Ontario Sugar Beet Growers' Marketing Board, and later served as its Chairman. He had an unfailing interest in the Kent Federation of Agriculture.
Mr. Drew's farm experience from such an early age made him a soil conservationist and a firm believer in crop rotation. He saw Canada as a land of opportunity, and helped many European immigrants get their start in farming during the 1930s and 1940s.