After leaving the family farm he was, for almost 15 years, a secondary school teacher teaching chemistry, physics and math.
In 1944, he moved to Scarborough to settle on his wife's family farm (Helen E. Huber) which they inherited after her uncle's death, James G. Cornell, the same year.
On October 1, 1969, he was elected by the Metropolitan Toronto council to the position of chairman, defeating former North York reeve Norman C. Goodhead by 21 votes to 11 on the third ballot.
[1] He was re-elected to the position unanimously in January 1972 but, ill with cancer, he retired on July 30, 1973, and died shortly thereafter.
He was defeated for the Ontario Liberal Party nomination for York—Scarborough prior to the 1959 provincial election to former reeve Oliver E. Crockford.