Honorary Colonel 2007-2010
Honorary Lieutenant Colonel 2002 -2007
Colonel Geordie Beal was born in Toronto on 23 September 1940 and was the third generation of his family in the regiment. Prior to joining he was a cadet for 5 years at Upper Canada College progressing to cadet Lieutenant. Following graduation from Trinity College at the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science he joined the 48th in 1965. He held the positions of Signals Officer, Platoon Commander, Adjutant and Company Commander. As a newly appointed Captain he attended the Militia Staff Course and qualified as a Reserve Staff Officer. He retired as a Major in 1972 due to the demands of his business career.
His father, Major George Beal, MC was overseas with the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders as a Company Commander in Italy and The Netherlands, returning to Toronto as Second-in-Command.
In the early 1980s Geordie became President of the Officers Association for two terms. In 1994 he was appointed to the Regimental Senate and became Secretary-Treasurer of the 48th Highlanders Trusts two years later. In 1996 he led the move and redesign of the 48th Highlanders Museum from the Old Comrades Club to its current location at St Andrew’s Church, culminating in the museum’s opening in June 1997 by the Regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Colonel Beal continued to lead the Museum for close to three decades.
For the Regiment’s 110th Anniversary in 2001, he wrote and had published “Family of Volunteers”, an illustrated history of the regiment. Then, in 2013 he authored, directed and had published a DVD, “That Dileas Spirit” of the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders during the Second World War with historic film of the battalion in England, Italy and The Netherlands enhanced with interviews of twenty 48th veterans who were there.
He was appointed HLCol in 2002 and then HCol from 2007 to 2009.
In business, Colonel Beal was a Vice President and Director of General Foods and then of Kraft Canada and was Chair of the Council of Planning Executives of the Conference Board of Canada. In retirement he volunteered and was Chair of the Management Board of Fort York for the City of Toronto and a Director of Heritage Toronto. He became a Director of the Friends of Fort York and the Chair of the Fort York Foundation whose creation he led.
Colonel Beal and his wife Nancy live in Toronto and have two sons, David and Robert.