William Ralph Brunt (October 24, 1902 – July 7, 1962) was a Canadian Senator and a close, personal friend and advisor of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
[1] He was born in Hanover, Ontario, the son of a cattle drover and was educated locally.
His final year of high school was at St. Andrews where he won the bronze medal for academic achievement.
They had two children, Flora Elizabeth ("Tibby") and William Ralph Brunt, Jr. Brunt, a lawyer by profession, was one of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's chief organizers in Ontario.
Brunt was one of a small circle of friends who spent election night in 1957 with Diefenbaker in his private railway car[1] and had been at Diefenbaker's side throughout the 1957 election campaign and was also a senior advisor to Diefenbaker during the 1958 election campaign that produced the largest majority government in Canadian history.