Taken from the RI publication
"100 Outstanding Quotes from Rotary International Presidents

In 1917-18, E. Leslie Pidgeon of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was the President of Rotary International. His Rotary vision: Unity of thought and purpose as a means to world understanding and peace.

"There is no growth unaccompanied by growing pains... peace is a universal fact which can only be realized in the fullness of the days... the ultimate achievement of spirit will be at the end of a long and painful process." - Christmas Message, THE ROTARIAN, December 1917

Leslie Pidgeon was the first RI President of Rotary from outside the United States. He was a clergyman, once the pastor of the Erskine and American United Church, recognized then as one of the strongest Protestant Churches in Canada. Upon his death, he was memorialized The Rotarian in the April 1946 article written by Allen D. Albert, the third RI President in 1915-16 (the article is in the historical papers of Past RI Director Joe Caulder). Here is a little that was written in the article about E. Leslie Pidgeon.

"Leslie was the seventh of the seven early Presidents privileged to give form and voice to Rotary. We other six all loved him.

"He openly admired Paul Harris, the Founder, for his openmindedness. He confirmed the work of Glenn Mead, who federated the Clubs into a unity. He and Russell Greiner were alike extenders of Rotary and Leslie recognized the resoluteness of the third President.

"Like President Frank Mulholland he had a talent for financial administration. From the latter came the setup wherewith Rotary International need never have a bill it cannot pay. Through three years as a Director and one year as President, Leslie upheld and strengthened that plan. Likewise he took from President Arch Klumph a widening of Rotary activities, a favor of the fine arts, an expansion into Latin America, as phases of progress he must maintain.

"This is not the all of Leslie Pidgeon. He had in his personality something of the intrepid voyageurs, something of the monks of the Middle Ages poring over their scholarship, something of the goodness and lovableness of the early fathers of the church."