Former Ontario Hockey League commissioner and Canadian Hockey League president David Branch has died. He was 77.
The OHL and Canadian Hockey League announced his death Monday, stating he died Sunday. No cause of death was revealed.
Branch was commissioner of the OHL from 1979 until his retirement in 2024. He was also president of the CHL from 1996-2019.
The CHL player of the year award was renamed after him in 2019-20, in addition to the leader of the year award given to the top OHL executive.
Branch, a Bathurst, N.B., native and longtime resident of Whitby, Ont., had served on the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee, received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2016 and was inducted into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame as a builder in 2017.
In a release, the OHL credited Branch for guiding “the OHL through an era of unprecedented growth and progress, establishing standards that elevated junior hockey across the country.”
“Mr. Branch was a pioneer in prioritizing player welfare, championing initiatives that addressed player safety, mental health support, and educational advancement.”
Branch introduced the OHL Scholarship Program to ensure that players who passed through the league would have access to post-secondary education.
