Meighen now Chancellor of McGill

Old Boy NEWS

MEIGHEN nowchancellor of McGILL

Michael Meighen ’53 was appointed the 19th Chancellor of McGill University, it was announced January 17. He will succeed Chancellor Arnold Steinberg, whose current term will end on June 30, 2014. Michael was born in 1939, son of lawyer and philanthropist Theodore Meighen and philanthropist Peggy deLancey Robinson, and the grandson of former Prime Minister of Canada Arthur Meighen. Following his father’s death, Michael’s mother was married to another Selwyn House Old Boy, Senator Hartland Molson ’18.

Michael is a longtime friend, advisor and fundraiser for former Progressive Conservative leader and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who appointed him to the Senate in 1990, representing Ontario. Both he and Mulroney are lawyers at the law firm of Ogilvy Renault. They also attended law school together at Université Laval in Quebec City along with other prominent Canadian political leaders, including Lucien Bouchard. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 from McGill University, where he became a member of the Scarlet Key Honor Society for his leadership. He also holds two honorary doctorates from the University of New Brunswick and Mount Allison University. In addition to serving on the Deschênes Commission on War Criminals in the mid-1990s, Michael has served as a member of the McGill University Board of Governors, a director of the Cundill Funds, Sentry Select Capital Corp., and J.C. Clark Ltd. of Toronto. In January 2007, Meighen was appointed a Commissioner of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park by the Canadian Government.

He and his wife, Kelly Meighen (née Dillon), are major benefactors of the Stratford Festival. In 2004, he became Canadian chair of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, which promotes conservation efforts. He is past chair of the Stratford Festival, current chair of the T. R. Meighen Family Foundation and chancellor of the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Michael ran unsuccessfully to represent Westmount in the Canadian House of Commons in 1972 and 1974.

While in the Senate, he was the only Conservative senator to vote in favour of same-sex marriage. He chaired or served on a number of high-level Senate committees until 2007.

Michael and Kelly have three sons, Ted, Hugh and Max, and live in Toronto. ■

Michael Meighen ’53 speaking at the 2003 Selwyn House Old Boys’Reunion

OLD BOYS’STORIES teach GRADE 8 BOYS

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contact all the Old Boys by email with a link to our website, where you will see all the topics and then, if you are interested, you can sign up and address the class in person or by Skype, Google Hangout or FaceTime.

This is an exciting initiative to have the Old Boys come into the class and teach through their own personal stories. Over thirty Old Boys responded to my original email last year, but we only had time to work with four, so for all those who called and emailed, thank you, and I hope that we can work together in the next phase of the program.

I would like to thank the IBSC and, in particular, Di Laycock who oversees the IBSC Action Research, and Trish Cislak and Margot Long, the wonderful mentors who guide and help all of the researchers through their projects each year. Middle School teacher Matt McCarney and his Grade 8 ERC class were a pleasure to work with and, of course, none of this would be possible without the support of Headmaster Hal Hannaford and the Dean of Students, Minna Shulman, who also happens to be on the Board of the IBSC.

I would like to thank the four Old Boys who participated in the research and spoke to the Grade 8 class: Victor Goldbloom ’37, Keith Martin 2002, Justin Kuzmicki 2005 and Charles Vennat 2005.

Selwyn House Old Boys are an amazing group of guys! ■