WHO, AT 660 HOWE STREET IN VANCOUVER, KNEW CONVICTED ABORTIONIST AND DRUG SMUGGLER DR ROBERT HENRY MACLAUCHLAN?

In our unceasing search for more background to the March 22, 1966 murder of Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan and his third wife Nan in New Westminster, BC, we have uncovered a rather curious bit of information. From 1955 (following his release from Lethbridge Provincial Jail in Alberta after serving a year for conspiring to procure abortions) to 1965 (when, shortly before Christmas, he and Nan were charged with drug trafficking) MacLauchlan received his mail not at 912 Fifth Street in New Westminster where they lived but at 660 Howe Street, near the heart of downtown Vancouver. This address was just around the corner from the Vancouver Court House. One wonders why MacLauchlan was receiving his mail at an address so remote from where he actually resided.

Investigation reveals that 660 Howe Street was a major office building containing, over the years, several lawyers, advertising agents and talent scouts, all which stayed four years or less. The following law firms had offices in the building between 1955 and 1964: Pandia & Faminow, Thomas & Williams,WE Marshal, and Harry Pedrini.

Pandia and Faminow were D Paul Pandia and Peter Faminow. Peter Faminow served as a councillor and alderman for the District of North Vancouver between 1960 and 1974 and ran once for Reeve. He also ran once as a New Democrat in the Federal election of 1963. Harry Pedrini was politically active in the provincial Liberal party and ran in East Vancouver against the NDP’s Alex MacDonald in the 1966 BC election.

Of note is an article in a late 1950s issue of the Vancouver Sun relating that Pedrini had appeared before Vancouver City Council on behalf of a Vancouver social club. The Vancouver City Police recommended against giving a license to the group on the grounds that it was really just a front for organized gambling. The police said that two of the club’s six directors had criminal records.

The only commercial company which was continuously at 660 Howe Street was Bennett and White, an Alberta Construction company of some stature during the decades of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Bennett and White were headquartered in Calgary, hometown of Dr MacLauchlan for over two decades. This leads to the remote possibility that MacLauchlan may have been getting his mail via Bennett and White, and that he had known someone in their Vancouver office from a previous Calgary acquaintanceship.

The only other organizations which had steady occupancy at the address were the CBC and the Provincial Department of Education’s Broadcast Office. It hardly seems likely that either of these two entities would be amenable to receiving the postal deliveries of a convicted felon. We of course would like to find out who at 660 Howe Street was holding Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan’s mail for him. Feel free to offer any ideas or suggestions to us via our contact information on the Home Page of this web site.