AMBROSE C. FROOM.
Since he first came to Regina in the spring of 1906, Ambrose C.
Froom, general manager of the loan department of the Imperial Life
Insurance Company, has seen the city grow from a little town of five
thousand to its present size and importance as an industrial and trade
center. Not without an honorable ambition to succeed in the world of
business affairs, Mr. Froom has labored steadily to advance his position
in insurance circles ever since he decided to cast in his lot with the rising
fortunes of the west and has contributed substantially to the growth of
his line of business in Saskatchewan, at the same time that he has shared
in her increasing prosperity. Today he not only holds an important posi-
tion in insurance circles, but his private interests are large enough to
place him in the ranks of the extensive property owners of his community.
He is a native of Ontario, born at Shanly, on the 19th of January, 1868,
the son of Albert and Adelaide (Weston) Froom. His parents, both of
whom were born in Ontario, came from United Empire Loyalist stock
and his grandparents were from the United States originally. Through.
out his life Albert Froom engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a
well educated and widely read man, a strong Liberal in his political views
and active in local affairs, holding various local offices from time to time.
He and his wife were both members of the Methodist church. Eight of
the nine children born to this couple are living, of whom the subject of
this sketch is next to the oldest.
Ambrose C. Froom was educated in the public schools near his boy-
hood home and State College, graduating from the latter in the class of
1886. For some time after completing his education he followed in the
footsteps of his father, engaging in farming, and lived on a farm for the
first eight years of his married life. In 1899 he sold his farm and
moved to Ottawa, where he took up mercantile work, conducting a gen-
eral store for six years. In the month of March, 1906, he came to Regina
with his family to better his fortunes in the rapidly developing Canadian
west. Here he became associated with the Imperial Life Insurance Com-
pany as life insurance manager and held that position for a year before
he was transferred to the loan department, with which he has been con-
nected ever since. In 1908 he was made manager of the department, his
present office. He has charge of the loans of the company throughout the
province of. Saskatchewan, his duties requiring necessarily an intimate
knowledge of property values and financial conditions, as well as sound
business judgment, qualifications that Mr. Froom happily possesses to a
marked degree. Apart from his work for the insurance company Mr.
Froom has developed extensive business interests of a personal nature.
He owns and manages a large amount of real estate in Regina, which he
has acquired from year to year, including some fifteen or sixteen houses,
which he rents. Moreover, he has never completely lost his interest in
farmning and since coming out west has bought many acres of fine Sas-
katchewan agricultural land.
In 1891 Mr. Froom was married to Miss Anna Ray, who was born in
Spencerville, Ontario. They have become the parents of two sons: Minor
and Foster. The older son was educated in Toronto and Harvard Uni-
versity and had just reached the threshold of mature life when the Great
war brought a sudden end to his personal plans. He entered the air serv-
ice of the Canadian army and was killed in an airplane in the nose dive,
at Beamsville, Ontario. The other son graduated in law from Osgoode
Hall, in May of 1923, having previously spent a year at Harvard Uni-
versity studying American law. The family is affiliated with the Metho-
dist church, in which Mr. Froom has served on the official board for a
number of years and is now chairman of the finance committee.
Thoroughly progressive in his views and methods, Mr. Froom is im-
bued with the spirit of the west, the force that has transformed the
prairies of western Canada in less than a generation. His whole-hearted
support is given to every movement to improve the city and community,
Economically, civically or socially. He is a typical Rotarian and has taken
in active interest in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association.
A lifelong lover of outdoor sports, he has been conspicuous in curling and
golf circles for years and has been a leader in arranging tournaments
to stimulate an interest in the latter sport. Fraternally he is connected
with the Masonic order. His interests have always been such as indi-
cate him to be a broad-minded man and his cooperation is ever a most
effective and resultant force in anything that he attempts. His friends
find him a genial, social gentleman, while those who have business rela-
tions with him recognize his ability, progressiveness and persistency of
purpose.
Bibliography follows:
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