Joseph Marc Milner (born 12 April 1954) is a Canadian military and naval historian, author of several books including one novel. He is Director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick.
The son of William Clayton Milner and Rita Mary Legere Milner, he was born and raised in Sackville, New Brunswick, and attended Tantramar Regional High School from which he graduated in 1973. Going on to university, he graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977, and from the same university earned his Master of Arts degree in 1979 with a thesis on "Canadian escorts and the mid Atlantic 1942–1943". He earned his Ph.D. there in 1983, completing a doctoral dissertation titled "No higher purpose: the Royal Canadian Navy's mid-Atlantic war 1939–1944".[1][2]
Upon completion of his PhD, Milner began his professional career in 1983 as an historian in the Directorate of History, National Defense Headquarters, where he served until 1986, when the University of New Brunswick appointed him an assistant professor of history and director of its military and strategic studies program. Rising to full professor, he became chairman of the history department, 2002–2010, and since 2006 Director of the university's Brigadier Milton Fowler Gregg, VC, Centre for the Study of War and Society.
He was the recipient of the C.P. Stacey Prize in 2004 for his book Battle of the Atlantic.
Milner is fond of sailing, has cruised various Atlantic Canadian shorelines in his 16-foot daysailer, and spent time "before the mast" on the tall ship HMS Rose between Boston and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is married and has two children.[3]
