Mervyn Arthur Upham was born in 1917 in Bayhead, Colchester County, Nova Scotia the son of Arthur George Upham (1870-1943) and Margaret (Ferguson) Upham (1878-1961). He completed his public school education at the Colchester County Academy in 1936 and entered Mount Allison University completing his BSc in 1940. The following year he enlisted as a lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Engineers. In 1942, he was stationed at Debert, Nova Scotia. He served with the 8th Army in Europe in 1943 and also saw service in North Africa, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany before the end of the Second World War. He received the Africa Star and the M.B.E. for his contributions and was discharged on 3 November 1945. In his subsequent professional career he was well known for development of new mines in Canada, the United States, and overseas. In 1955, he joined Rio Algom Mines and developed the Algom-Quirke mine, the first of the Elliot Lake uranium producers. From 1960 to 1964, he worked as the vice-president and general manager for International Minerals & Chemical. He worked with Newmont Mining as a vice-president (1964- 1969) participating in the startup of the Carlin gold mine in Nevada and development of the Granduc mine in northern British Columbia. From 1979 to 1985 he was chairman of Kilbom Engineering, a Canadian consulting firm that undertook mine design and construction around the world and from 1986 to 1989 was chairman of Discovery West Corp. He was a past president of the Canadian Mining Association. In 1979, he was recipient of the Inco medal and an honorary degree from Mount Allison University. In 1989, he was a recipient of an award from American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) and was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. He was married to Kathryn Ainslie MacDonald and the couple had three children: John, Margaret and James. He died in Toronto, Ontario on 24 August 1999 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He is buried in the Union Church Cemetery at Bayhead (West Tatamagouche), Nova Scotia.