Kell Antoft was born on July 24, 1923 in Roskilde, Denmark. From an early age, Antoft became interested in hostelling and, while still in his teens, founded the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Hostelling Association (1938). Antoft served as a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator from 1943 to 1946. After twenty years in corporate administration, Antoft sold his business interests and moved to Toronto (1966) where he took up the post of Assistant Executive Director of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. In 1969 Antoft moved back to Nova Scotia after Guy Henson, Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), recruited him to assume the Assistant Directorship of the IPA. In 1977, Antoft succeeded Guy Henson as Director. Antoft united his interests in anti-smoking campaigns and athletics. An avid skier, Antoft had played a significant role in Canadian and particularly Nova Scotian ski history. In 1977 Senator Jacques Hébert founded the Katimavik program for youth, and from those very early days, Antoft involved himself on the Atlantic Region board (1977-1986). Other spheres in which Antoft became actively involved were politics (he worked on behalf of the New Democratic Party from the mid-1980s on, and ran for Halifax City Council in 1985) and nuclear disarmament.