Gordon Hamilton Southam, shown here in 2007, died Tuesday at age 91. (CBC)

The man who founded Ottawa's National Arts Centre and helped create the Canadian War Museum has died.

Gordon Hamilton Southam, 91, died Tuesday after a life filled with distinguished work in many fields. He served as a soldier in the Second World War before becoming a journalist, a diplomat and an arts community leader.

He was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1977.

Southam was an elegant man with panache, said Sarah Jennings, who interviewed him many times for a history of the National Arts Centre that she is writing, to be published next year.

"Mr. Southam came from a generation of Canadians who were privileged and were wealthy, but who had a very strong sense of the obligation that wealth brought," said Jennings, who added that Southam knew he lived a good life and that he will be missed.

Southam was born in Ottawa in 1916, a grandson of William Southam, the man who started the Southam newspaper chain, now owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp.

As a child, he served as pageboy to Lord Willingdon, who was governor general of Canada from 1926 to 1931.

Southam graduated with a BA from the University of Toronto in 1939, and headed to the U.K., Italy and northwest Europe to fight with the Royal Artillery and later the Royal Canadian Artillery during the Second World War.

After the war, he worked as a reporter with the Times of London and as an editorial writer with the Ottawa Citizen before joining the foreign service in 1948.

Southam subsequently served as third secretary in Stockholm, charge d'affaires in Warsaw, ambassador to Poland, and as head of the information division in the Department of External Affairs (now the Department of Foreign Affairs).

Hall dedicated in his honour

Southam was the co-ordinator who founded the National Arts Centre under prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1969, and served as director general of the cultural institution for the next 10 years. His voice is still played over the PA system at the centre to beckon the audience back to their seats before a show. The largest performance venue in the building, formerly known as "The Opera," was dedicated as Southam Hall in his honour in 2000.

At the dedication ceremony, governor general Adrienne Clarkson quoted Southam as saying: "I could always do what I wanted because I had a deep feeling of belonging."

Over the years, Southam also supported other arts institutions in the Ottawa area, including Opera Lyra and the National Gallery.

Southam was a founding member of the military museum task force that led to the Canadian War Museum. He also founded the Battle of Normandy Foundation for the 50th anniversary of D-day, and helped lead the Valiants Memorial project, which saw nine busts and five statues of military heroes and heroines placed near the National War Memorial in 2006.

In 2005, he received the Vimy Award from the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, which recognizes a Canadian who has made an outstanding contribution to the country's defence and security.

Southam served as chancellor of the University of King's College in Halifax, N.S., from 1988 to 1996.

Over his lifetime, he married three times and divorced twice. His third wife died of cancer in 2005. He is survived by his six children.