A British Broadcasting Corporation journalist and a philanthropist who helped fund Nobel Prize-winning research at Queen’s are among the five alumni who were recently named to the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honours.
Brent Belzberg, Com’72, Lyse Doucet, Artsci’80, LLD’15, Ross D. Feldman, Artsci’73, Meds’77, Gordon Gray, Com’50, and Gregory Zeschuk, MBA’04, were part of a group of 103 new appointments announced on Dec. 27 by Governor General Julie Payette.
Here is a snapshot of each recipient:
- Mr. Belzberg is being honoured for his work as a business leader and philanthropist. He is the founder and senior managing partner at TorQuest Holdings Inc. Management Services.
- Ms. Doucet is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has covered stories around the world, including the 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami and the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. The London, U.K., alumni branch hosted a special talk with Ms. Doucet in October of 2018.
- Dr. Feldman is being honoured for his efforts to prevent and control hypertension. He is the medical director at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and researcher at St. Boniface Hospital.
- Among his many philanthropic initiatives, Mr. Gray and his wife established the Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics. The chair was held for many years by Art McDonald, the Queen’s professor emeritus who was the co-recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for research into the subatomic neutrino. Mr. Gray is the former president and chairman of Royal LePage.
- Dr. Zeschuk is the co-founder of the Edmonton-based video game company BioWare, which has produced some of the industry’s most popular games, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect.
Queen’s Public Health Sciences Professor Heather Stuart was also among the recent Order of Canada honorees. She is one of Canada’s leading mental health experts who focuses on stigma research and advocacy. In 2012, Dr. Stuart was appointed the inaugural Bell Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Chair, the world’s first anti-stigma research chair.
“The contributions that these recipients are being honoured for speak to the impact Queen’s graduates have in Canada and throughout the world,” says Karen Bertrand, Vice-Principal (Advancement). “The Queen’s community joins me in congratulating these individuals for receiving this national recognition.”
"The Order of Canada was established in 1967. Queen’s alumnus and Member of Parliament John Matheson, Arts’40, LLD’80, was a driving force in its development. He said the Tricolour Society at Queen’s served as a model for the Order of Canada.”
