[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Landsberg_M02.jpg” caption=”McMaster Honorary Degree recipient (’06), Michele Landsberg, is one of four McMaster community members who was named to the Order of Canada this week.”]Two McMaster alumni and two McMaster honorary degree recipients were among the 77 Canadians whose appointment to the Order of Canada was announced on Monday. The announcement was made by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, the Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order. The appointment of 25 officers and 52 members takes effect April 6, 2007.

Former McMaster board of governors chair H. Douglas Barber (LLD '98) was named an officer of the Order. Barber is the founder of Gennum Corporation, a Burlington-based company that designs and manufactures integrated circuits. He holds several patents on semiconductor devices and has played an active role in the microelectronics industry in Canada. He holds honorary degrees from McMaster and the University of Waterloo, and in 1996 was named Engineer of the Year by the Hamilton Engineering Institute and the Regional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) Chapter. In 1999, he was named Ontario's Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and he also received the National Citation for Innovation and Technology. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and has been awarded the 2003 PEO Gold Medal.

Barber has a longstanding relationship with McMaster that includes serving as a part-time professor in the Faculty of Engineering, member and former chair of the University's Board of Governors, and distinguished professor-in-residence in the Faculty of Engineering. In 2005, Barber received the Faculty's leadership award.

Barber said he was told a few months ago he would receive the order, but had to keep quiet. Barber does not know who nominated him. “I was blown away,” said Barber. “It's about as big an honour as you can get in Canada.”

Michele Landsberg, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree at McMaster's Nursing convocation this past June, was also named an officer of the Order in the communications category.

Landsberg has been a leading voice of women's rights for more than a quarter century, using her platform as a National Newspaper Award-winning columnist in publications such as The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail to inspire action in the name of social justice.

Married to Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDs in Africa and McMaster's University's first Social Sciences Scholar-in-Residence, Landsberg has been recognized extensively for her work. Her various honours over the years include two National Newspaper Awards, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award and an award from the International Centre for Human Rights. Landsberg has served on the boards of a number of agencies and volunteer organizations for assaulted women, global feminism and the cause of peace in the Middle East.

John (Jack) Pelech (BA '55, LLD '01) was named a member of the Order.

A lawyer by profession, Pelech has changed the face of amateur sport in Canada. He was the guiding force behind the establishment of the Canada Games, helped launch the “Participaction” campaign, and chaired bids for several high profile sporting events. He was named Hamilton's Citizen of the Year (1987), inducted into McMaster's Alumni Gallery (1989) and Hamilton's Gallery of Distinction (2005), and has received an honorary degree from McMaster (2001) and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002).

McMaster alumnus Dr. Stanley Zlotkin (MD '74) received his medical training at McMaster University and McGill and obtained a PhD in Nutrition at the University of Toronto. He has worked as a clinician-nutritionist and research scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children since 1980. He is currently a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, a senior scientist in the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children, medical director of Nutrition Support at the Hospital for Sick Children and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the hospital.

As well as being a consultant on nutritional issues to Canadian Federal and Provincial governments, Zlotkin is past Chairman of the Nutrition Committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society and past Chair of the Research Ethics Board of the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children.

Established by the Queen in 1967, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement and service in various fields of human endeavour. It is Canada's highest honour for lifetime achievement.

There are three levels of membership – Companion, Officer and Member – recognizing people whose accomplishments vary in degree and scope. Appointments are made on the recommendation of an advisory council chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada.

Each of the newest recipients of the order will be presented with an insignia – a stylized, six-point snowflake bearing a maple leaf inscribed with the motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam (“They desire a better country.”) – at a ceremony later this year.