Judy LaMarsh

Julia Verlyn LaMarsh was a Canadian politician, lawyer, author and broadcaster. In 1963, she was only the second woman ever to serve as a federal Cabinet minister. Under Prime Minister Lester Pearson's minority governments of the middle and late 1960s, she helped push through the legislation that created the Canada Pension Plan and Medicare. As Secretary of State, she was in charge of Canada's Centennial celebrations in 1967. After leaving politics in 1968, she wrote three books, and had her own radio show on CBC Radio. She was stricken with pancreatic cancer in 1979 and was given the Order of Canada at her hospital bed. She died a few days short of the 20th anniversary of her first political election victory, in 1980.

20 December 1924

Born on the same birth date (20 December 1924): Charlie Callas

Born on the same birth day (20 December): Billy Bragg • Bob Morley • Hortense Calisher • Joseph ha-Kohen • Kan'ichi Asakawa • Kylian Mbappé • Marta Xargay • Martín Carrera • Mehmet Akif Ersoy • Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark • Michael Rogers (cyclist)

Born in the same month (December 1924): Atal Bihari Vajpayee • Bob Kurland • Charlie Callas • Doc Blanchard • Doug Harvey (ice hockey) • Girma Wolde-Giorgis • Jonathan Frid • Lee Dorsey • Masao Horiba • Mário Soares • Wally Cox • Wiel Coerver