Maurice Frederick Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC, FRAIC (April 29, 1929 – November 27, 2015) was a Canadian oil and mineral businessman and a diplomat who served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In 1976, at the request of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Strong returned to Canada to head the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada.

[16] He was slated to stand as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in Scarborough Centre in the 1979 federal election, but chose to abandon the race, returning to private enterprise[17] to manage AZL Resources,[18] a Denver oil promoter that he had previously acquired,[18] where he served as chairman and was the largest shareholder.

During the years 1992–1995, this innovation attracted approximately $25 million in research grants from the United States Department of Energy.

[24] Strong was sharing a house in 1947 with the first UN Treasurer, Noah Monod, who upon request arranged a UN job for him, starting as a junior security officer at UN headquarters in Lake Success, New York.

He later returned to Canada, and with the support of Lester B. Pearson, directed the founding of the Canadian International Development Agency in 1968.

It led to the establishment by the UN General Assembly in December 1972 of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and the election of Strong to head it.

[27] Strong was one of the commissioners of the World Commission on Environment and Development, set up as an independent body by the United Nations in 1983.

His public service activities were carried out on a pro bono basis made possible by his business activities, which included being chairman of the International Advisory Group of CH2M Hill, Strovest Holdings, Technology Development Inc., Zenon Environmental, and most recently, Cosmos International and the China Carbon Corporation.

In 1999 Strong took on the task of trying to restore the viability of the University for Peace, headquartered in Costa Rica, established under a treaty.

As chairman of its governing body, the Council, and initially as rector, Strong led the process of revitalizing the University for Peace and helped to rebuild its programs and leadership.

From 2003 to 2005, Strong served as the personal envoy to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead support for the international response to the humanitarian and development needs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Costa Rican government donated more than 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land to be used by Earth Council, but when plans for building fell through, it was allegedly sold for $1.65 million.

Those close to the situation claim that UPEACE officials didn't approve of the criticism they were receiving from the station and took matters into their own hands when power to the building was cut and a wire fence put up around the perimeter.

It was reported that the cheque was hand-delivered to Mr. Strong by a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who in 2006 was convicted in New York federal court of conspiring to bribe U.N. officials to rig Oil-for-Food in favor of Saddam Hussein.

[35] He said that his departure from the U.N. was motivated not by the Oil-for-Food investigations, but by his sense at the time, as Mr. Annan's special adviser on North Korea, that the U.N. had reached an impasse.

"[36] Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, near the end of his term, paid the following tribute to Maurice Strong: Looking back on our time together, we have shared many trials and tribulations and I am grateful that I had the benefit of your global vision and wise counsel on many critical issues, not least the delicate question of the Korean Peninsula and China's changing role in the world.

[37]In 2012 for Rio+20 he contributed to a book by Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss titled Only One Earth — the Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development, which reviewed the last forty years and the challenges for the future.

[38] Maurice Strong was no stranger to skepticism and criticism as a result of his lifelong involvement in the oil industry, juxtaposed with his heavy ties to the environmental issues.

[39] Maurice Strong was a close adviser to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and became embroiled in what is now known as the Oil for Food Program Scandal and reportedly received millions of dollars from North Korean and Iraqi lobbyists.

[43][44] The service was broadcast on CPAC,[45] and among those who spoke were James Wolfensohn, Adrienne Clarkson, John Ralston Saul and Achim Steiner.