Richard Pound formally installed as Chancellor of McGill
Thursday, October 28, 1999
2:30 pm
Molson Centre
La Gauchetière Street Entrance
Mr Richard W. Pound, O.C., O.Q., Q.C., LL.D., will be formally installed as the seventeenth Chancellor of McGill University at the Fall 1999 Convocation. Mr Pounds appointment took effect July 1, 1999, when he succeeded Mrs. Gretta Chambers, who held the position for eight years as the Universitys titular head.
Mr Pound, a Montreal lawyer, is a McGill alumnus (B.Com. 1962, B.C.L. 1967) who has maintained close ties to his alma mater since graduation. After serving on numerous McGill boards and committees, he became a member of the Board of Governors in 1986 and, eight years later, was elected its chair. Mr Pound is a partner in the legal firm of Stikeman, Elliott, and has occupied senior positions of public service in several other local, national and international organizations, the best known of which is his current role as Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee. The involvement of Mr Pound in the Olympic Games goes back to 1960, when he was a double finalist in swimming at the Rome games. In the 1962 Commonwealth Games, he won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal for Canada.
More than 1000 graduates are expected to attend the ceremony, where they will receive degrees, diplomas and certificates in front of family and friends. Honorary doctors of science will be awarded to two leading medical experts. Sir David Wetherall is a renowned specialist in haematology and molecular medicine who occupies the position of Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University. Dr. Menard Gertler earned two degrees at McGill, an M.D.C.M. in 1943 and an M. Sc. in 1949. During a long and distinguished career as Professor and Director of Cardiovascular Research at New York University Medical Centre, he remained an active friend of his alma mater and was appointed Adjunct Professor of Medicine at McGill in 1996.
