John Angus

John Campbell Angus was born in Winnipeg on 30 March 1943 to Phyllis Elaine Campbell and William "Bill" Angus, one of their two sons. Through his mother he was a grandson of Sydney Ashton Campbell. He studied at the University of Winnipeg and at the Manitoba Institute of Technology.

Angus began his working life with G. H. Wood and Company. He then travelled across Canada giving seminars on salesmanship and interpersonal communication through Red River Community College, work his family said he loved because of the contact with young salespeople. That led to several years as a vice president of Comcheq Payroll Services, a national company providing computerised payroll services.

In 1977 he was elected to Winnipeg city council for St. Norbert ward. Over his time on council he chaired the works and operations committee, served on the boards of the Victoria Hospital and the Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation, and in 1986 became deputy mayor. In his early years he was associated with the Independent Citizens' Election Committee.

In the 1988 Manitoba general election he won St. Norbert as a Liberal by 388 votes over the Progressive Conservative incumbent Gerry Mercier. The Liberals went from one seat to twenty and formed the official opposition, and Angus argued in the legislature for stronger review powers for the Public Utilities Board over Manitoba Hydro. He lost the seat by 117 votes to Marcel Laurendeau in 1990.

He returned to city council in 1992, saying he felt he could make more of a difference at the municipal level. He supported the gradual removal of the city's business tax, ran briefly for mayor in 1998 before withdrawing, and resigned from the Executive Policy Committee in January 2004. In 2005 he left City Hall to serve as western chief of staff in Winnipeg for Reg Alcock. In summers after his retirement he worked as the broker of John Angus Realty until he sold the business in 2021.

Angus was first married to Karen Lynn Blevins, the mother of his daughter Susan and son Colin; they later divorced, and she died in 2022. He later married Janice Charko. After retiring in 2006 the couple spent summers at their cottage at Lac du Bonnet and winters at Six Lakes Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida, and from 2016 on Vancouver Island. He was survived by Janice, his two children, grandchildren and extended family.

John Angus died on 13 October 2026 at the age of 83. His family did not make a cause of death public. His obituary was published in the Winnipeg Free Press on 17 October 2026 and the Manitoba Historical Society added him to its Memorable Manitobans collection the same day. In keeping with his wishes he was cremated, and a celebration of life was held on 23 October 2026 at the Brokenhead River Community Hall in Beausejour, Manitoba. His family wrote that he wanted people to be told he had had a wonderful life and regretted nothing.

Angus served 23 years on Winnipeg city council across two spells, representing St. Norbert through a period of rapid suburban growth in the south of the city. In 2008 Winnipeg named a major street in the Waverley West neighbourhood after him. A former council clerk who worked with him remembered his sense of humour and the seriousness with which he took his constituents' problems.