Twelve alumni inducted into McMaster’s Alumni Gallery
The 12 alumni to be inducted into McMaster's Alumni Gallery on June 5 are:
Ronald Beckett '78 Faculty of Humanities
A well-respected composer, Beckett has had numerous compositions performed by ensembles throughout Ontario. His catalogue of compositions includes full-length operas, more than a dozen large-scale works for orchestra and chorus, and an abundance of chamber music and pieces for organ.
Dedicated to teaching and inspiring young musicians, Beckett founded Arcady, an organization that combines outstanding young Canadian performers with established professional musicians and singers.
Gregory Brophy '87, '88 Faculty of Business
Brophy is the president and founder of Shred-It Canada Corporation, the largest mobile document shredding company in North America. Brophy has been recognized nationally and internationally for his business success and community involvement. In 1993, he won the Federal Business Development Bank's Entrepreneur of The Year Award and most recently he was honoured as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. Brophy is a widely acclaimed entrepreneur, community volunteer and philanthropist.
Teresa Cascioli '83 Faculty of Business
President & CEO of Lakeport Beverage Corporation, Cascioli is credited with turning the company around. Manufacturing beer, alcoholic coolers and non-alcoholic products, Lakeport brings in revenue in excess of $47 million. In the 2003 issue of Profit and Chatelaine Cascioli was ranked 18th in the list of top 100 women entrepreneurs in Canada.
Philip Connell '46 Faculty of Social Sciences
A chartered accountant, Connell has worked for various corporations across Ontario including Westinghouse Canada, Domtar Limited, George Weston Limited and The Oshawa Group. Each new career opportunity saw Connell climb the corporate ladder as he moved from accountant to comptroller, to vice-president of finance, and finally to chief financial officer. In addition to his career successes, Connell retains strong ties to his local community. He sits on several boards including the Hamilton and Metropolitan Toronto United Way, the Hamilton YMCA and the Canadian Red Cross.
Jackie Kevill '74 Faculty of Social Sciences
Jackie Kevill opened her first Looney Lizard store 10 years ago and today she has 23 franchised across Ontario. With no formal business training, she is quite a success story. A past recipient of the Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year CICC Enterprise award, Kevill was named one of the top 100 women entrepreneurs in Canada by Chatelaine and Profit magazine.
Paul MacPherson '57 Faculty of Social Sciences
MacPherson is the owner and president of Valcom Limited, a 100 per cent Canadian owned and operated supplier of electronics and aerospace products. Valcom Limited generates annual sales of $42 million and exports products to 30 countries worldwide. Realizing that the success of an individual is largely dependent upon the success of ones community, Valcom emulates MacPherson's mandate of corporate citizenship by supporting more than 20 different community organizations. Valcom generously supports the Guelph Community Fund, the United Way, the Salvation Army, the Ontario Special Olympics and The Canadian Cancer Society, among many others.
Steve Mann '87 Faculty of Science, '89, '92 Faculty of Engineering
Mann is the inventor of WearComp (wearable computer) and WearCam (eyetap camera and reality mediator). He brought his inventions and ideas to MIT in 1991 and is considered to have planted the seed that later became the MIT Wearable Computing Project. He has constructed devices that allow him to record every moment he sees and connect with the Internet 24 hours a day. He has a legion of followers and supporters at the University of Toronto, where he teaches engineering.
Eva Marsh '79 Faculty of Science, '81 Faculty of Engineering
Marsh was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 22 and almost immediately she started investigating the disease. She has now lived with MS for 37 years and in that time has raised two girls as a single mother and graduated from university. An avid public speaker and author of two books, Marsh is committed to helping others living with the disease. She is dedicated to spreading the message that MS in not an automatic sentence to life in a wheelchair and that is possible to halt and reverse the progress of the disease.
In May of this year she was awarded the Women of the Year award in Health, Sports and Fitness category in recognition of her contribution to the well being of people with MS.
Gary Purdy '62 Faculty of Engineering
Known and respected internationally as a researcher in the field of microstructure development in engineering materials, Purdy's career has been marked by his scholarship, dedication, breadth of vision and compassion. As a researcher in microstructure development in engineering materials, Purdy has made major contributions to the knowledge base in the areas of multicomponent effects in diffusion and phase transformations; structures and properties of solid-solid interfaces; and phase transformations involving interfacial diffusion.
During his 40 years as a faculty member at McMaster, Purdy has served as departmental chair, associate dean of graduate studies, dean of engineering and is currently the director of the Centre for Peace Studies.
Mary Romeo '90 Faculty of Humanities
Romeo has spent her life contributing to the community in which she lives by engaging in numerous volunteer and professional activities. A registered nurse with a distinguished career at various hospitals in Hamilton and Toronto, she came to McMaster as an adult to study art history. As a volunteer, Romeo has served as president of the Medical Wives Association, founder of Santa Senior project, docent at the Hamilton Gallery of Art, president of the Canadian Opera Company Guild (Burlington Branch), board member of Opera Hamilton and president of the Hamilton Opera Guild.
Rajendra Singh '79 Faculty of Science
Singh is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Centre for Nanoelectronics at Clemson University. Based on his success in operations, program leadership, R & D, product/process commercialization, and startups, he has proven himself as a leader in technology and engineering innovation in the semiconductor industry. His technical contributions are reflected in five patents, more than 250 papers in major journals, book chapters, feature articles and edited books.
Daniel Wayner '80 Faculty of Science
One of Canadas outstanding physical scientists, Wayner has lead the development of a new National Research Council Institute in Edmonton, the National Research Council for Nanotechnology. Wayner was appointed interim director in mid-2002 and has worked to ensure that the Institute becomes the flagship centre' of nanotechnology in Canada and among the top five in the world. In recognition of his work, Wayner has received the Rutherford Memorial Medal, been elected a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Royal Canadian Society.
