2010 Honorary Degree Recipients


Fall 2010

Keith Condon
Keith Condon represents the essence of South Shore Nova Scotian initiative.  As President and CEO of the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia - based Tri-Star Industries Limited, Keith Condon lives and builds on our global economy tradition.  Over the last thirty years he has built up his company into a world leader in the manufacture of ambulances and other specialty vehicles.
John H. McCall MacBain
In the history of global commerce many ambitious men have won great fortunes.  Most of their names are now forgotten except for a handful that saw their achievements in a larger setting and took up the challenge to build the foundations for the success of others both in their own time and long into the future.  John McCall MacBain is such a visionary.
Simon Winchester, OBE
Simon Winchester, a world-renowned journalist and author, is a polymath whose perspective bridges the sciences and the humanities.  His ability to transcend traditional subject boundaries enables him to explain the complex interplay between humanity and the natural world.

Spring 2010

The Honourable Justice Thomas Cromwell
The best traditions of the bench, the legal profession and academia all come together brilliantly in the distinguished and influential career of the Honorable Mr. Justice Thomas Albert Cromwell and today, we are particularly pleased to honour Dalhousie’s first professor to be appointed to the nation’s Supreme Court of Canada. 
Richard J. Currie
In 2005, Richard Currie was named one of Canada’s Ten Greatest Chief Executives of All Time.  Not bad for an engineering graduate from our university.  Mr. Currie’s business career saw him lead Loblaw Companies and George Weston Limited, and serve as Chairman of Bell Canada Enterprises.  Today he serves as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick.  Dalhousie is delighted to honour his tremendous achievements and contributions.
Charles Embree
Charles Embree has been serving Atlantic Agriculture for over 40 years. He is recognized as leader and educator to several generations of fruit growers for his work to improve the tree fruit iindustry while he sharpens the science of fruit growing as a professional.
Nancy Gosling
In all she does, Nancy Gosling’s passion for her work is evident.  With a strong foundation in commerce and accounting acquired from a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University, Nancy joined Gosling Brothers Ltd. in 1981 as assistant treasurer. She quickly assumed the role of managing director and, a few years later, was named vice president. In 1991, having demonstrated her skills in business development and relationship-building, Nancy Gosling became the first woman in her family to serve as president and CEO of a seventh-generation family business that has been a mainstay of the Bermuda experience and the island economy for over 200 years.  
Randolph Hester
Randolph Hester – teacher, planner and activist as well as a passionate advocate for the integration of ecology in urban planning.  Dr. Hester is one of the leading visionaries for the sustainable, inspirational city of the future.  Today, we honour and celebrate that vision.
Sir John Houghton
No one ever said saving the world would be easy. Sir John Houghton would agree. But, as he once said, quoting statesman Edmund Burke in an interview, “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.”  John Houghton has spent much of his life studying the world’s changing atmosphere. And he has not done a little. He has done a lot. Sir John is a scientist, a leader in the study of global warming and one of the first scientists to alert us to its threat.  In 2007, he shared the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on climate change.
Murray B. Koffler
Like many fathers, Leon Koffler passed along a simple but invaluable message to his son, Murray: “Treat people the way you would want to be treated.” We hear that familiar adage all the time, but few heeded the advice with the same passion as Murray Koffler.  Though he’s a co-founder of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Mr. Koffler is best known as the man behind the hugely successful Shoppers Drug Mart chain. His lifelong adherence to his father’s advice led him to become one of Canada’s most successful businessmen and philanthropists.
Sir Paul Nurse
Sir Paul Nurse received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001.  One of the world’s greatest cell biologists, his work had had a profound impact on cancer research.  After a distinguished career at Oxford University and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Sir Paul became President of Rockefeller University in 2003!  Today we celebrate a great scientific leader.
Budge Wilson, C.M.
Looking back, there’s no question that writing is what Budge Wilson was meant to do. But it was not an easy or straightforward road.  What sustained her is the belief that she was good at what she did, and that other people thought so too.  Today, Dalhousie alumna, Budge Wilson has 33 books published in 27 countries in 14 languages and we are pleased to honour her accomplishments and her contributions to the literary world.