The following is a list of chancellors, principals, and noted alumni and professors of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
List of chancellors
List of principals/president
Noted alumni and professors
Nobel Prize graduates and faculty members
Academy Award graduates
Pulitzer Prize graduates
Academics and scholars
Maude Abbott (BA 1890) - physician and pathologist, authority on congenital heart disease, co-founder of International Academy of Pathology
Nancy J. Adler – Professor of Organizational Behavior and Samuel Bronfman Chair in Management at McGill University
Abdolhamid Akbarzadeh Shafaroudi – assistant professor in machine design and mechanical engineering at McGill University
Selim Akl (MSc 1976, PhD, 1978) – unconventional computer scientist
Ismail al-Faruqi – Muslim philosopher and comparative religion scholar
Alia Al-Saji – professor of philosophy
Antony Alcock (BA 1961) – Ulster historian; actively involved in the negotiations leading up to the Belfast Agreement
Brian Alters – evolution and education
Frederick Andermann (BA 1948, BSc 1952) – neuroscientist
Athanasios Asimakopulos (BA 1951, MA 1953) – prominent economist in the Post Keynesian tradition
Brigitte Askonas (BSc 1944, MSc 1949) – prominent British immunologist
Karine Auclair – professor of chemistry at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobials and Green Enzymes
Francis Aveling (BA 1897, MA 1899) – Canadian psychologist, divinity scholar, and Roman Catholic priest
Sir David Baulcombe, FRS (Postdoc 1978) – British plant scientist and geneticist; now Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge
Jill Beck (MA 1976) – dance and choreography scholar, and 15th President of Lawrence University
Eric Berne (BSc 1931, MD 1935) – psychiatrist, originator of the psychoanalytic theory of transactional analysis
Raoul Bott (BEng 1945, MEng 1948) – mathematician specializing in topology, Wolf Prize in Mathematics, 2000
Reuven Brenner – economist; current faculty member
Ayşe Buğra (PhD 1981) – economist
Gerald Bull – former professor of mechanical engineering; expert on projectiles; designer of the Iraqi Project Babylon
Mario Bunge – physicist and philosopher
Miriam Burland – astronomer at Dominion Observatory from 1927 to 1967
Ron Burnett (PhD 1981) – president and vice-chancellor, Emily Carr University of Art and Design; former Director of the Graduate Program in Communications, McGill University
Anne Carson – thinker, writer, translator, and University of Michigan classics professor
Donald Ewen Cameron – psychiatrist, involved with mind control experimentation at McGill
Thomas Chang (BSc 1957, MD 1961, PhD 1965) – invented and developed world's first artificial cell
Margaret Ridley Charlton – historian, pioneer librarian, and one of the founders of the Medical Library Association
Sherry Chou (MD 2001) – Neurologist and critical care physician at the University of Pittsburgh
Sujit Choudhry (BSc 1992) – constitutionalist and Dean of the University of California Berkeley, School of Law
Thomas H. Clark – paleontologist; namesake of the mineral Thomasclarkite
Terence Coderre (PhD 1985) – Professor of Medicine and the Harold Griffith Chair in Anaesthesia Research at McGill University
Robert W. Cox (BA 1946) – former United Nations official; a leading authority of the British school of International Political Economy; former professor of political science at Columbia University; current professor emeritus at York University
R. F. Patrick Cronin (MD 1953) – cardiologist; Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill (1972–1977); healthcare consultant
Augusto Claudio Cuello – Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Charles E. Frosst/Merck Chair in Pharmacology at McGill University
Philip J. Currie (MSc 1975, PhD 1981) – paleontologist and former curator of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology
Roger Daley (MSc 1968, PhD 1971) – meteorologist
Armand de Mestral (BCL 1966) – professor of international law
Carrie Derick (BEd 1881, BA 1890, MSc 1896) – first woman to become a professor in Canada (in botany at McGill)
Arti Dhand (PhD 2000) – associate professor at the University of Toronto, Department for the Study of Religion
Vibert Douglas (PhD 1926) – astrophysicist
Charles R. Drew (MD 1933) – physician and professor
Kyle Elliott – Canadian ornithologist, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University, and Canada Research Chair in Arctic Ecology.
Hamid Etemad – professor of international business; business guru and researcher
Jennifer V. Evans – professor at Carleton University
Basil Favis - Canadian chemist and professor
David A. Freedman (BSc 1958) – statistician; professor at University of California, Berkeley
Grover Furr (BA 1965) – professor of English literature; historical negationist and apologist for Joseph Stalin
James E. Gill (BSc 1921) – geology professor who introduced the Master's of Applied Science in Mineral Exploration program and established an analytical laboratory for the application of geochemistry to mineral exploration
Gilbert Girdwood – professor of chemistry; radiologist
Leo Goldberger (BA 1951, MA 1952) – psychologist, professor at New York University and director of the Research Center for Mental Health, Holocaust survivor
Lawrence Goodridge, food safety and wastewater monitoring researcher
Phil Gold (BSc 1957, MSc 1961, M.D. 1961, PhD 1965) – Canadian physician, scientist, and professor. In 1968, he co-discovered the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), which resulted in a blood test used in the diagnosis and management of people with cancer.
David Goltzman (BSc 1966, MD 1968) – endocrinologist, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, and A.G. Massabki Chair in Medicine at McGill University
Shyamala Gopalan – breast cancer researcher in the Faculty of Medicine and McGill-affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research; mother of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris
Laurie N. Gottlieb, Flora Madeline Shaw Chair of Nursing, Editor-in-Chief of CJNR (Canadian Journal of Nursing Research)
Jack Gross (PhD 1949) an endocrinologist, one the co-discoverers of Triiodothyronine (T3)
William W. Happ - (BS) - Silicon transistor pioneer at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, and Professor at Arizona State University
John Harnad (BSc 1967) – Mathematical physicist, Director, Mathematical physics laboratory, Centre de recherches mathématiques
Stevan Harnad (BA 1967, MA 1969) – Canada Research Chair, Cognitive Sciences; open access and animal rights activist
S. I. Hayakawa (MA 1928) – linguist, U.S. Senator, and 9th President of San Francisco State University
Karen S. Haynes (MSW 1970) – American college administrator and social worker, former president of University of Houston–Victoria, and current president of California State University San Marcos
Donald Olding Hebb (MA, 1932) – father of cognitive psychobiology; pioneer in artificial intelligence; developed concept of Hebbian learning
John Hemming (BA 1957) – explorer
Janyne M. Hodder (BA 1970, MA 1982) – educational psychologist and 6th President of the University of the Bahamas
Alma Howard (BSc 1934, MSc, 1936, PhD 1938) – radiobiologist
Fumiko Ikawa-Smith – archaeologist in East Asian and Japanese archaeology & administrator, Director of the Centre for East Asian Studies (1983 and 1988) and Associate Vice-Principal (Academic) of McGill University (1991–1996).
Herbert Jasper – neuroscientist
Julian Jaynes (BA 1944) – psychologist, author of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
George Karpati – neuroscientist
Victoria Kaspi (BSc 1989) – astrophysicist researching neutron stars and pulsars
Roger Keesing – anthropologist
Howard Atwood Kelly – member of the faculty of medicine at McGill; one of the "Big Four" founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, credited with establishing gynecology as a true specialty
Samara Klar (BA 2005) – political scientist and founder of Women Also Know Stuff
Raymond Klibansky – philosopher
Normand Landry (PhD 2010) – professor of communication at Université TÉLUQ and current Canada Research Chair in Media Education and Human Rights
Harold Laski – political theorist
Charles Philippe Leblond – pioneer of stem cells, inventor of autoradiography
Grant LeMarquand (BA 1977, STM 1982, MA 1998) – Canadian Anglican bishop, missionary, and professor at Trinity School for Ministry
Daniel Levitin – cognitive psychologist
Pericles Lewis (BA 1990) – founding President of Yale-NUS College; professor of English and comparative literature at Yale University
Herbert Melville Little (MD 1901) – Gynaecologist, lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at McGill, and World War I Army captain
Abraham S. Luchins – American psychologist known for his research on mental sets (Einstellung effect)
Michael J. MacKenzie – Professor of Social Work, Psychiatry, and Pediatrics at McGill University, and Canada Research Chair in Child Well-Being
Michael Mackey – professor of physiology and Joseph Morley Drake Chair in Physiology at McGill University
Colin MacLeod (MD 1932) – Canadian-American geneticist; discovered DNA breakthroughs
James Mallory – for many years Canada's leading constitutional scholar
Joseph Boyd Martin – former Dean of the Harvard Medical School; former Dean and Chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco; former chair of neurology and neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute
Anna McPherson, physicist and the first female professor in the Department of Physics
Michael Meaney – pioneer of epigenetics; James McGill Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Ronald Melzack (BA, 1950, MSc 1951, PhD 1954) – developed the McGill Pain Questionnaire
Ravi S. Menon (MSc(A), 1986) - Canadian-American biophysicist involved in the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging, Professor at The University of Western Ontario.
Donna Mergler (PhD, 1973) – neuro-physiologist specializing in environmental effects of neurotoxins
John S. Meyer (MD 1948, MSc 1949) – neurology professor and Chairman of the U.S. President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke
Brenda Milner (MA 1949, PhD 1952) – provided the first clear demonstration of the existence of multiple memory systems in the brain with patient H.M.
Henry Mintzberg (BEng 1961) – business guru
Mortimer Mishkin (MA 1949, PhD 1951) – renowned neuropsychologist for path-breaking work on brain-processing of memories and 2009 National Medal of Science recipient
Albert Moll (LLB 1932, MD 1937) – professor of psychiatry; pioneer of psychiatric day treatment
Marie-Eve Morin – Canadian philosopher and Professor of Philosophy
Karl Moore – associate professor of management at McGill University
William Reginald Morse, MD, one of four medical missionaries who founded the West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1914; went on to become dean of the medical faculty and, later, assistant researcher at the Peabody Museum, where he advanced studies of Chinese and Tibetan medicine
Beverley Pearson Murphy, endocrinologist and professor
Jennifer G. Murphy (BS 2000) – Professor of chemistry at University of Toronto
E. R. Ward Neale (BSc 1949) – geologist, professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland
Louis Nirenberg (BS 1945) – mathematician; 1995 National Medal of Science recipient and winner of 2015 Abel Prize
Percy Erskine Nobbs – former professor of architecture; designer of many buildings in Montreal, especially at McGill, and in Alberta, British Columbia, and South Africa
James Olds (Postdoc 1955) – neuroscientist and psychologist; co-discovered the reward center of the brain; a founder of modern neuroscience
Kelvin Ogilvie – McGill chemistry professor 1974–87; expert in biotechnology, bioorganic chemistry, genetic engineering
Santa J. Ono (PhD 1991) – immunologist; 15th President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of British Columbia; 28th President of The University of Cincinnati; 15th President of the University of Michigan; discovered NFX1 RING Finger motif; showed HMGA2 truncation drives mesenchymal tumor development
William Osler (MD 1872) – McGill professor; medical pioneer; developed the modern form of a doctor's bedside manner; a founder of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University
Gilles Paradis – public health and preventive medicine physician at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, as well as professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health and Strathcona Chair in Epidemiology at McGill University.
Madhu Pai – Canada Research Chair of Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University
Jordan Peterson (PhD 1991, Postdoc 1993) – clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and psychology professor currently at the University of Toronto
Kevin Petrecca – neurosurgical oncologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute, chief of neurosurgery at the MUHC, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery and William Feindel Chair in Neuro-Oncology at McGill University
Wilder Penfield – neurosurgery pioneer; first director of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Montreal Neurological Hospital, which are affiliated with McGill University
Stephen R. Perry, John J. O'Brien Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
Steven Pinker (BA 1976) – cognitive psychologist; author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works
Susan Pinker (BA 1979) – psychologist; author of The Sexual Paradox
Jeremy Quastel – mathematician specializing in probability theory and PDEs, currently professor at the University of Toronto
Judah Hirsch Quastel – biochemist; pioneer in neurochemistry and soil metabolism; Director of the McGill University-Montreal General Hospital Research Institute
Amélie Quesnel-Vallée – associate professor with joint appointment in the Departments of Sociology and Epidemiology, and Canada Research Chair in Policies and Health Inequalities at McGill
Fazlur Rahman – Islamic philosopher
James R. Reid (BA 1881, MDiv 1883) – theologian and president of College of Montana (1889–1893) and Montana State University (1894–1904)
Richard Birdsall Rogers (BEng 1878) – civil engineer and designer of the Peterborough Lift Lock
Mary Laura Chalk Rowles (BSc 1925, MSc 1926, PhD 1928) – physicist
Christopher E. Rudd (BSc 1978) – immunologist; professor at Harvard and Cambridge
Witold Rybczynski (BArch 1966, MArch 1972) – Scottish-born McGill-trained architect and internationally known writer and critic
Philip Carl Salzman – anthropologist
Joseph A. Schwarcz (BSc 1969, PhD 1973) – chemist, science popularizer, science journalist
Hans Selye — (DSc, 1942) Endocrinologist, pioneered studies on the effects of stress on the human body.
Bernard Shapiro (BA, 1956) – Ethics Commissioner of Canada; former Principal of McGill and Deputy Education Minister of Ontario; twin brother of Harold Shapiro
Harold Shapiro (BA, 1956, MA 1959) – former president of Princeton University; former president of the University of Michigan; twin brother of Bernard Shapiro
Judith N. Shklar (BA, 1949, MA 1950) – political scientist, John Cowles Professor of Government at Harvard, and first woman president of the American Political Science Association (APSA)
Vera Shlakman (BA 1930, MA 1931) – professor of economics, noted Marxist scholar, and author of famous book on women factory workers
Jenni Sidey (BEng 2011) – Canadian astronaut, engineer, and lecturer.
Upinder Singh (PhD 1990) – Indian historian
Nahum Sonenberg – Israeli Canadian microbiologist and biochemist. He is a James McGill professor of biochemistry
M. R. Srinivasan (MEng 1952, PhD 1954) – Indian Nuclear Physicist
Moshe Szyf – geneticist, pioneer of epigenetics; James McGill professor of pharmacology and therapeutics.
Charles Taylor (BA 1952) – writer, philosopher, and political theorist; 2007 winner of the Templeton Prize
Karen Teff (PhD 1988) - biologist and geneticist
Demetri Terzopoulos (BEng 1978, MEng 1980) - Academy Award winning Greek-Canadian-American computer scientist, university professor, author, and entrepreneur
Marc Tessier-Lavigne (BSc 1980) – 11th president of Stanford University; former president of Rockefeller University; Rhodes scholar
Wendy Thomson - former head of School of Social Work and current vice-chancellor of University of London, 2019-
Lionel Tiger (BA 1959) – best-selling author; Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University
Peter Todd (BCom 1983) – former dean of McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management, dean of HEC Paris
Stephen Toope (BCL, 1983 LLB, 1983) – Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (2017–), President of the University of British Columbia (2006–2014)
Bruce Trigger – OC OQ FRSC (18 June 1937 – 1 December 2006) archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethnohistorian. James McGill Professor (2001–2006), Professor McGill University (1967–2006).
Tom Velk – monetary economics and public policy professor
Manuella Vincter - particle physicist, professor at Carleton University, deputy spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment
Jacob Viner (BA 1914) – professor; early leader of the Chicago school of economics
Robert Vogel (academic) - professor; Dean of Faculty of Arts of McGill University
Alice Vrielink – Head of Discipline in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Western Australia; conducts research in crystallography
Immanuel Wallerstein – former professor of sociology (1971–1976); political scientist, known for the World Systems Theory
Jagannath Wani (PhD 1967) – statistics professor and philanthropist focusing on mental illness awareness
Frank T. M. White – Foundation Professor, Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland; Macdonald Professor of Mining Engineering and Applied Geophysics, McGill University
Franklin White (MD 1969) – scholar-practitioner; former president, Canadian Public Health Association; 1997 Medal of Honor from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
Joseph Wong, Vice President, International, University of Toronto
William Wright (DMC 1848) – first person of colour to obtain a medical degree in Canada and first to be a professor; professor, McGill Medical Faculty, 1854-1883.
Tim Wu (BSc 1995) – professor at Columbia Law School; adviser for the New York State Attorney General
Leo Yaffe (PhD 1943) - nuclear chemist
Bernard P. Zeigler (BEng 1962) – a Canadian engineer and emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, known for inventing Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) in 1976.
Hans Zingg (PhD) – Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Wyeth-Ayerst Chair in Women's Health at McGill
Bernard Zinman (MD) – research endocrinologist, clinician, and diabetes expert
Business and media
Suhayya Abu-Hakima – co-founder and CEO of AmikaNow! and Amika Mobile Corporation
Noubar Afeyan ― one of two Canadian co-founders of Moderna, Inc.
Vinod Agarwal – founder and former chairman of LogicVision ($100 million NASDAQ traded company)
Suroosh Alvi – journalist, filmmaker, and co-founder of VICE magazine
Peyush Bansal- co-founder and CEO at Lenskart, an Indian unicorn. Investor at Shark Tank India.
Aldo Bensadoun – founder and CEO of the ALDO Group
Conrad Black – imprisoned press baron and media tycoon in the Anglo-Canadian tradition of Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Thomson of Fleet; owner of 650 dailies/weeklies around the world
Gad Elmaleh – French comedian
Charles Bronfman – philanthropist; former co-chairman of Seagram Distillers
Edgar Bronfman, Sr. – former CEO of Seagram
Kitra Cahana - Peabody award-winning documentary filmmaker and documentary photographer
John Cleghorn – former chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest bank in Canada; currently chairman of SNC-Lavalin group
Jim Coleman (1911–2001), Canadian sports journalist, writer and press secretary
Jean Coutu – businessman; billionaire; founder and CEO of Jean Coutu Group
Paul Desmarais, Jr. – chairman of Power Corporation
Ritika Dutt – CEO & co-founder of Botler AI
Darren Entwistle – president and chief executive officer of Telus
Stéphanie Fillion - Award-winning French-Canadian reporter and United Nations correspondent
Adam Gopnik – staff writer for The New Yorker magazine
Céline Galipeau – weekday anchor of Ici Radio-Canada Télé's Le Téléjournal
Kuok Khoon Hong – Singaporean billionaire and co-founder of Wilmar International
Dick Irvin, Jr. – sports broadcaster and author; second longest serving member of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada (after Bob Cole)
Hubert Lacroix – president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
David Lawee – partner and founder of Google Capital
John MacBain – founder, CEO and president of Trader Classified Media
Shahid Mahmood – political cartoonist
Scott McDonald – CEO of Oliver Wyman
Thomas S. Monahan – president and CEO of CIBC Mellon
Claude Mongeau – CEO and president of the Canadian National Railway
Harley Morenstein – host and co-creator of Epic Meal Time
Andy Nulman – co-founder of Just for Laughs
Mark Phillips – CBS News London bureau correspondent since 1982, formerly CBC News London correspondent
Elizabeth Plank – Vox video blogger and online journalist
Robert Rabinovitch – president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Jade Raymond video game producer at Ubisoft; co-host of G4TV's Electronic Playground
Matthew Rosenberg – Washington correspondent at The New York Times, and national security analyst for CNN
John Roth – former CEO of Nortel Networks
Calin Rovinescu – president and CEO of Air Canada
Claire Saffitz – American pastry chef, food writer and YouTube personality
Sugar Sammy - Canadian comedian
Seymour Schulich – benefactor to the Schulich School of Music at McGill and Schulich School of Business, York University
Allan Scott – writer-producer of more than 20 feature films, including Don't Look Now, voted the best British film of all time; wrote Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; as chairman of Macallan-Glenlivet, he turned Macallan into a world-leading malt whisky
Savik Shuster – TV journalist working for Ukrainian television
Evan Solomon – political journalist and radio host on Sirius XM Canada, columnist for Maclean's
Helga Stephenson – interim CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
Ziya Tong – television personality and co-host of Daily Planet
Lorne Trottier – founder of Matrox Electronic Systems
Ivana Trump – Czech-American businesswoman and former fashion model, ex-wife of President Donald Trump
Les Vadasz – founding member of Intel Corporation
Zain Verjee – co-anchor of CNN International's European morning program World Report
Michelle Zatlyn – co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare
Moses Znaimer – co-founder and former president and executive producer of CityTV; chairman and Executive Producer of the Access Media Group
Mort Zuckerman – CEO of Atlantic Monthly Corporation and publisher of U.S. News & World Report
Changpeng Zhao - founder and CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Politics and government
Canadian politicians and civil servants
McGill alumni have held and continue to hold many positions at the federal and provincial levels in Canadian politics:
Governors-General of Canada
Julie Payette (BEng 1986) – Governor General of Canada, 2017–2021; former Canadian Space Agency astronaut
David Lloyd Johnston (LLD 2000) – Governor General of Canada, 2010–2017; former McGill principal; former head of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University; former president of the University of Waterloo, 1999–2011
Prime ministers
Sir John Abbott (BCL 1854) – third Prime Minister of Canada and first to be born in Canada
Sir Wilfrid Laurier (BCL 1864) – seventh Prime Minister of Canada
Justin Trudeau (BA 1994) – 23rd and current prime minister of Canada
Cabinet ministers and members of parliament
Chris Alexander (BA 1989) – Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, 2013–2015; previously Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, 2003–2005
Warren Allmand (BCL 1952) – served variously as Solicitor General, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs between 1972 and 1979
Steven Blaney (Cert Mgmt 1991) – Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, 2013–2015
Jim Carr (BA 1979) – Minister of Natural Resources, 2015–
Brooke Claxton (BCL 1946) – Minister of Health, 1943–1946; Minister of National Defence, 1946–1954
Irwin Cotler (BA 1961, BCL 1964) – Minister of Justice and Attorney General, 2003–2006
Charles Doherty (BCL 1876, Hon. LLD 1913) – Minister of Justice and Attorney General, 1911–1921
Charles Drury (BCL 1936) – Minister of Finance, Defence, Public Works, Industry, President of the Treasury Board
Sydney Arthur Fisher (BA 1868)— Minister of Agriculture, 1896–1911
Karina Gould (BA 2010) – Minister of Democratic Institutions, 2017–present
Herb Gray (BCom 1952) – Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, 1997–2002
Don Johnston (BA 1955, BCL 1958) – Minister of State for Science and Technology, Minister of State for Economic and Regional Development, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Robert Layton (BA 1947) – Minister of State for Mines, 1984–1988
John McCallum (PhD 1977) – Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada since 2015; former Dean of the Faculty of Arts of McGill University
David Lametti (BCL/LLB 1989) – Minister of Justice, 2019–
Catherine McKenna (LLB 1999) – Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, 2015–
Frederick Debartzch Monk (BCL 1877) – Minister of Public Works, 1911–1912
Joe Oliver (BA 1961, BCL 1964) – Minister of Finance, 2014–2015
Jim Peterson (DCL 1970) – Minister of International Trade, 2003–2006
Greg Rickford (BCL/LLB 2005) – Minister of Natural Resources, 2014–2015
Richard Fadden (BA 1973) – former Deputy Minister of National Defence and National Security Advisor
John Joseph Curran (LLB 1862) – first Solicitor General of Canada
Jonathan Wilkinson (MA 1992)
Nick Whalen (LLB 2011) Lawyer and former MP for the Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz (Bcom 1994)
Arif Virani (BA 1994)
Julie Dabrusin (BA 1994)
Angelo Iacono (BA 1988)
Steven Blaney (Cert Mgmt 1991)
Matthew Dubé (BA 2011)
Brenda Shanahan (BSW 2007)
Michael Levitt (politician) (Arts 1993)
Francis Scarpaleggia (BA 1979)
Sherry Romanado (Cert PR Mgmt 2005)
Anthony Housefather (BCL/LLB 1993)
Thomas Mulcair (BCL 1976, LLB 1977)
Will Amos (BCL/LLB 2004)
Peter Schiefke (MSc 2011)
Marc Miller (BCL/LLB 2001) Lawyer and MP for the Liberal current Minister of Indigenous Services in the Federal Cabinet
Joël Lightbound (BCL/LLB 2011), Liberal politician, MP for the riding of Louis-Hébert.
Emmanuella Lambropoulos (BEd 2013)
Raquel Dancho (BA 2014)
Mylène Freeman (BA 2011)
Charmaine Borg (BA 2011)
Laurin Liu (BA 2011)
Supreme Court justices
Douglas Abbott (BCL 1918) – appointed to the Court in 1954, previously Minister of National Defence and Minister of Finance
Ian Binnie (BA 1960) – appointed to the Court in 1998, formerly Associate Deputy Minister of Justice
Louis-Philippe de Grandpré (BCL 1938) – appointed to the Court in 1974, formerly president of the Canadian Bar Association
Marie Deschamps (LLM 1983) – appointed to the Court in 2002, previously a Judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal
Gérald Fauteux – appointed to the Court in 1949, previously dean of the Faculty of Law.
Morris Fish (BA 1959, BCL 1962) – appointed to the Court in 2003, previously a Judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal
Clément Gascon (BCL 1981) – appointed to the Court in 2014, previously a Judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal
Désiré Girouard (BCL 1860) – appointed to the Court in 1895, previously member of Parliament
Charles Gonthier (BCL 1951) – served on the Supreme Court 1989–2003
Mahmud Jamal (BCL’93, LLB’93), puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada — appointed to the Court in 2021, previously a Judge on the Court of Appeal for Ontario
Nicholas Kasirer (BCL, LLB 1985) – appointed to the court in 2019, previously a judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal
Gerald Le Dain (BCL 1949) – appointed to the Court in 1984, previously a Judge on the Federal Court of Appeal
Sheilah Martin (BCL, LLB, 1981), – appointed to the Court in 2017, previously judge of the Court of Appeal of Alberta
Pierre-Basile Mignault (BCL 1878) – appointed to the Court in 1918, previously President of the Bar of Montréal
Thibaudeau Rinfret (BCL 1900) – appointed to the Court in 1924, previously a Judge on the Superior Court of Quebec
Senators
Albert Joseph Brown (BA 1883, BCL 1886) – Senator for Wellington, 1932–1938
Henry Joseph Cloran (BCL 1883) – Senator for Victoria, Quebec, 1903–1928
Sheila Finestone (BSc 1947) – appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1999
Joan Fraser (BA 1965) – appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1998
Linda Frum (BA 1984) – appointed to the Senate in 2009
Marc Gold (BA 1972) – current Senator for Stadacona, Quebec
Sir William Hales Hingston (MD CM 1851) – Senator for Rougemont, 1896–1907; Mayor of Montreal, 1875–1877
James Horace King (MD CM 1895) – Leader of the Government in the Senate, 1942–1945
Michael Meighen (BA 1960) – appointed to the Senate in 1990
Vivienne Poy (BA 1962) – appointed to the Senate in 1998
Larry Smith (BCL 1976) – appointed to the Senate in 2011 and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Leo Housakos (BA 1992) – incumbent Senator for Wellington, Quebec and former Speaker of the Senate of Canada
James Edwin Robertson (BA 1865) – Member of Parliament and Senator for Prince Edward Island
Michael Pitfield (LLB 1959) – Senator for Ottawa-Vanier, Ontario
Joan Fraser (BA 1965) – Senator for De Lorimier, Quebec
John Caswell Davis (BEng 1910) – Senator for Winnipeg, Manitoba
Charles Boucher de Boucherville (MD 1843) – third Premier of Quebec and Senator for Montarville, Quebec
Sarto Fournier (LLB 1937) – Member of Parliament, 38th Mayor of Montreal, and Senator for De Lanaudière, Quebec
Théodore Robitaille (MD 1858) – Member of Parliament, and Senator for Gulf, Quebec
Members of Parliament (House of Commons)
Tom Mulcair (BCL 1976, LLB 1977): Leader of the New Democratic Party, Leader of the Opposition, and Member of Parliament for Outremont, Quebec
Marc Miller (BCL, LLB 2001): Current Member of Parliament for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs, Quebec, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations
David Lametti (BCL 1989, LLB 1989): Current Member of Parliament for LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, Quebec, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Arif Virani (BA 1994): Current Member of Parliament for Parkdale—High Park, Ontario, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Murray Rankin (BA 1972): Former Member of Parliament for Victoria, British Columbia, and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and British Columbia Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
Anthony Housefather (BCL, LLB 1993): Current Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, Quebec, and chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
Albina Guarnieri (MA 1979): Member of Parliament for Mississauga East and Mississauga East—Cooksville, Ontario
George MacKinnon (MD 1902): Member of Parliament for Kootenay East, British Columbia
Christophe-Alphonse Geoffrion (BCL 1866): Member of Parliament for Verchères, Quebec
Joseph Alexandre Camille Madore (BCL 1880): Member of Parliament for Hochelaga, Quebec
Jack Layton (BA 1969): Leader of the New Democratic Party, Leader of the Opposition, and Member of Parliament for Toronto—Danforth, Ontario
Samuel William Jacobs (BCL 1893): Member of Parliament for George-Étienne Cartier and Cartier, Quebec
Alan Macnaughton (BA 1924, BCL 1927): Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, Quebec, and Speaker of the House of Commons
Thomas d'Arcy McGee (BCL 1861): A Father of the Canadian Confederation and prominent Member of Parliament for Montreal West, Quebec
The "McGill 5": Five then-current McGill students who were elected as NDP MPs in 2011:
Charmaine Borg (BA 2011): MP for Terrebonne—Blainville (2011–2015)
Matthew Dubé (BA 2011): MP for Beloeil—Chambly (Chambly—Borduas until 2015) (2011–2019)
Mylène Freeman (BA 2011): MP for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel (2011–2015)
Laurin Liu (BA 2016): MP for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles (2011–2015)
Jamie Nicholls (PhD cand 2017): MP for Vaudreuil—Soulanges (2011–2015)
Auditors-general
Denis Desautels (BCom 1964) – auditor general, 1991–2001
Sheila Fraser (BCom 1972) – first female auditor general of Canada
Ambassadors
Chris Alexander (BA 1989) – ambassador to Afghanistan
Élaine Ayotte (MA 1990) – ambassador and permanent delegate to the UNESCO
Frederic Bertley (BSc 1994, PhD 1999) – ambassador to Senegal
Yves Fortier (BCL 1958) – ambassador to the United Nations
Robert Fowler (BA 1966) – ambassador to the United Nations and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
Arnold Heeney (BCL 1927) – ambassador to the United States and NATO
Kirsten Hillman (BCL/LLB) - ambassador to the United States, 2020-
Ralph Lysyshyn (BA 1969) – ambassador to Russia
John McCallum (PhD 1977) – ambassador to China
Andrew McNaughton (BA 1910, MSc 1912) – ambassador to the United Nations and President of the UN Security Council
Sydney David Pierce (BA 1922, BCL 1925) – ambassador to Brazil, Belgium, Luxembourg, Mexico, and the OECD
John Rankin (LLM) – former British ambassador to Nepal; Governor of Bermuda; current British Governor of British Virgin Islands
Gordon Smith (BA 1968) – Ambassador to the European Union and NATO
David Wright (BA 1966) – Ambassador to Spain and NATO
James R. Wright (BA 1970) – ambassador (high commissioner) to the United Kingdom
Heads of financial institutions
Graham Towers (BA 1919) – first and founding Governor of the Bank of Canada (1934–1955) and Governor for Canada at the International Monetary Fund
Marcel Massé (LLB 1961) – Member of Parliament, President of the Treasury Board, and President of the Canadian International Development Agency
Sylvia Ostry (BA 1948, MA 1950) – chairman, Economic Council of Canada
Others
Gerald Butts (BA 1993, MA 1996) – current Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada, 2015–
Sir Charles Boucher de Boucherville (MD 1843) – Premier of Quebec, 1874–1878, 1891–1892
Ian Brodie (BA 1990) – Chief of Staff in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 2006–2008
Neil Brown, Q.C. (PhD. 1973) – Alberta MLA
Rosemary Brown – first Black Canadian woman to be elected to a provincial legislature
James Campbell Clouston (BEng 1918) – Canadian officer in the British Royal Navy, who acted as pier-master during the Dunkirk evacuation; inspiration for Kenneth Branagh's pier-master character in Christopher Nolan's 2017 film Dunkirk
May Cutler (BA 1945, MA 1951) – first woman to serve as Mayor of Westmount, Quebec (1987–1991); founder of Tundra Books; first female Canadian publisher of children's books
Sir Charles Peers Davidson (BA 1864, MA 1867, BCL 1873, DCL 1875, Hon. LLD 1912) – Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court, 1912–1915
Henry Thomas Duffy (BA 1876, BCL 1879) – Minister of Public Works and Treasurer of Quebec
Brian Gallant (LLM 2011) – Premier of New Brunswick, 2014–
R. A. E. Greenshields (BA 1883, BCL 1885) – Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec, 1929–1942
Don Johnston (BCL 1958, BA 1960) – former Secretary General of the OECD
Carlos Leitão (BA 1979) – Minister of Finance of Quebec, 2014–
David Lewis (BA and LLD) – Rhodes Scholar and former leader of the New Democratic Party (1971–75)
Alexander Cameron Rutherford (BA, LLB 1881) – first premier of Alberta, founder of the University of Alberta
Bernard Shapiro (BA 1956) – Federal Ethics Commissioner, 2004–2007
Marie-Claire Kirkland Strover (BA 1947, BCL 1950) – first woman elected to the Quebec National Assembly, serving between 1966 and 1973.
Foreign politicians and other government officials
McGill alumni have held and continue to hold many top government positions in other countries:
Heads of state/government
Paula Cox (BA 1985) – former prime minister of Bermuda
Timothy Harris (PhD 2001) – current Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Joni Madraiwiwi (LLM 1989; DipA&SL 1988) – former acting president and vice-president of the Republic of Fiji and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Nauru
Michael Manley (BA 1943) – former prime minister of Jamaica, and former member of the Senate and House of Representatives in the Parliament of Jamaica
Ahmed Nazif (PhD 1983) – former prime minister of Egypt
John Rankin (LLM 1984) – current Governor-General of Bermuda
Daniel Oduber Quirós (MA 1945) – former president of Costa Rica
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (PhD 1965) – former president of Latvia; first female president of Latvia
Cabinet members
Mukti Ali (MA 1960s) – Minister of Religious Affairs of The Republic of Indonesia, 1971-1978
Zbigniew Brzezinski (BA 1949; MA 1950) – former National Security Advisor (with Cabinet rank) to President Jimmy Carter
Peter Murcott Bunting (BEng 1983) – current Minister of National Security of Jamaica
Warren Randolph Burgess (MA 1915) – former United States Undersecretary of the Treasury and United States Ambassador to NATO
Miguel Castilla (BA 1991) – current Minister of Economy and Finance of Peru
Stephen Chebrot (MSc 2009) – current Minister for Transport in the Ugandan Cabinet and incumbent Member of the Parliament of Uganda, and former Ugandan Ambassador to India
Bernard Chidzero (PhD 1958) – Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe, 1985–1995
Peng Ming-min (MA 1952) – senior adviser (with cabinet rank) to the president of Taiwan, and former presidential candidate in Taiwan
Jacqui Quinn-Leandro (PhD 2003) – first female (acting) prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and cabinet member (Minister of Education, Minister of Labour, and Minister of Public Service)
Hamdillah Abdul Wahab (BEng 1974) – former Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources
Michael Žantovský (MA 1975) – Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman of the Czech Republic
Euan Howard, 4th Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (BEng 1951) – British Minister of State for Defence, 1979–1981
Jamaluddin Jarjis (PhD 1980) – former Malaysian ambassador to the United States and Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation
Dov Yosef (BA 1921) – Minister of Justice, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Health of the State of Israel
Marko Pavliha (DCL 1992) – Minister of Transport of Slovenia
Malik Amin Aslam (MBA 1993) – former Pakistani Minister of State for the Environment and current advisor to the prime minister for Climate Change (with Cabinet rank)
Ian DeVere Archer (LLM 1968) – Secretary of Health and Social Security of Barbados and former chairman of Caribbean Airlines (national airline of Barbados)
Legislators
Wong Yuk-shan (MSc 1976; PhD 1979) – former Member (deputy) of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China
Gilbert Cooper (BCom 1924) – former mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda and member of the House of Assembly of Bermuda
S. I. Hayakawa (MA 1928) – U.S. Senator from California
James McCleary (BA 1874) – U.S. Congressman representing Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives
Joseph J. O'Brien (BA 1917) – U.S. Congressman representing New York in the United States House of Representatives
Chase G. Woodhouse (BA 1912; MA 1914) – U.S. Congresswoman representing Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives
Carlos Heredia (MA 1985) – Member of the Congress of Mexico and Governor of the State of Michoacán in Mexico
Gordon Wasserman, Baron Wasserman (BA 1959) – Member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament and life peer, and internationally recognized policing advisor
Conrad Black (MA 1973) – Member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament and life peer, and publisher of The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun-Times (U.S.), The Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada)
Euan Howard, 4th Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (BEng 1951) – Member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament
Andrew Hamilton Gault (BA 1902) – Conservative Member of the House of Commons in the British Parliament for Taunton, Somerset, UK (1924–1935); raised Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the last privately raised regiment in the British Empire; bequeathed his Mont Saint-Hilaire estate to McGill in 1958
Maurice Alexander (BA 1908; BCL 1910) – Liberal Member of the House of Commons in the British Parliament for Southwark South East, UK
Gavin Henderson, 2nd Baron Faringdon (BA 1922) – former member of the London County Council, Chairman of the Fabian Society, 1960–1961
Dhanayshar Mahabir (MA 1985; PhD 1994) – Senator of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Jacqui Quinn-Leandro (PhD 2003) – first woman elected to the House of Representatives, and later elected as Senator, in the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda
Ramasamy Palanisamy (MA 1980) – current Member of the Parliament of Malaysia
Hidipo Hamutenya (MA 1971) – Member of the National Assembly of Namibia and cabinet member (Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Foreign Affairs) of Namibia
Michael Žantovský (MA 1975) – ambassador of Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic to the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom, and Senator in the Parliament of the Czech Republic
Rıza Türmen (LLM 1980) – former Member of the Turkish Parliament and Turkish Ambassador to Switzerland
Dov Yosef (BA 1921) – former member of the Israeli Parliament and Israel's Minister of Justice, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Health
Peter Murcott Bunting (BEng 1983) – current Member of Parliament of Jamaica
Marko Pavliha (DCL 1992) – Member of Parliament and vice-president of the National Assembly of Slovenia
Judges
Akintola Olufemi Eyiwunmi (LLM 1964) – justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Muhammad Khalid Masud (MA 1971; PhD 1973) – current justice of the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
Joni Madraiwiwi (LLM 1989; DipA&SL 1988) – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Nauru
Chile Eboe-Osuji (LLM 1991) – judge and currently president (chief justice) of the International Criminal Court
Heads of financial institutions
Ernest Addison (PhD 1993) – banker, and current chairman and governor of the Central Bank of Ghana
Kofi Wampah (MA 1983; PhD 1986) – former chairman and governor of the Bank of Ghana, and Chairman of the Central Bank Governors of West Africa
DeLisle Worrell (MA 1973; PhD 1975) – former chairman and governor of the Central Bank of Barbados
Kazi Abdul Muktadir (BEng 1981) – acting Governor, and current deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan
P. Amarasinghe (MA 1974) – deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka
Herbert Walker (BA 1946) governor of the Bank of Jamaica
Ambassadors
John L. Withers II (MA 1975) – ambassador of the United States to Albania
Francis Terry McNamara (MA 1954) – ambassador of the United States to Gabon, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe
John Larkindale (PhD 1971) – ambassador of New Zealand to Russia and Australia
Kurt Jaeger (LLM 1989) – current Ambassador of Liechtenstein to the United States
Rıza Türmen (LLM 1980) – ambassador of Turkey to Switzerland
Michael Žantovský (MA 1975) – ambassador of Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic to the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom
Jamaluddin Jarjis (PhD 1980) – ambassador of Malaysia to the United States
Miguel Castilla (BA 1991) – ambassador of Peru to the United States
John Rankin (LLM 1984) – ambassador of the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Maldives
Others
Joanne Liu (BSc 1987; MD 1991; IMHL 2014) – international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
Sam Nunberg (BA 2004) – former presidential political advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump
Ilya Sheyman (BA 2006) – social activist and Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2012 election
Morag Wise, Lady Wise (LLM 1994) – Scottish Senator of the College of Justice
David Hackett (BA 1950) – boarding school friend of Robert F. Kennedy; founder and head of Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), the domestic U.S. Peace Corps program; inspiration for Phineas in John Knowles's 1959 novel A Separate Peace; McGill hockey player and selected for the US Olympic Hockey Team (1952)
Wang Bingzhang (Phd 1982) – Chinese Dissident and Political Prisoner, the founding father of the overseas Chinese Democratic Movement.
Art, music, and film
Ayal Adler – musician and composer
Will Aitken – novelist and film critic
Patrick Allen – English actor and businessman, known for Shakespearean roles and for narrating the controversial Protect and Survive public information films for the British government
Michael Andre – poet and editor
Darcy James Argue – jazz composer and bandleader
Burt Bacharach - American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist
Hadji Bakara – "sound manipulator" and secondary keyboardist for Wolf Parade
Samantha Bee – correspondent, The Daily Show
Yanic Bercier – drummer for death metal band Quo Vadis
Mary E. Black – occupational therapist, teacher, master weaver and writer
Claire Boucher – musician and visual artist under stage name Grimes
Win Butler – musician, co-founder of Arcade Fire
Peter Butterfield – concert tenor and conductor
Anne Carson – poet and professor of classics
Regine Chassagne – musician, co-founder of Arcade Fire
John Austin Clark – music director and harpsichordist, co-founder of Bourbon Baroque
Leonard Cohen – poet, author, songwriter, singer, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee
Sheldon Cohen – animator and illustrator of The Hockey Sweater
Chuck Comeau – drummer and songwriter for band Simple Plan
Hume Cronyn – actor, The Seventh Cross, Cocoon; studied theatre, left for Broadway without completing his degree
Hubert Davis (BA 2000) – Oscar nominee for best documentary short subject
Mackenzie Davis – actress and Canadian Screen Award nominee for The F Word
Audrey Capel Doray – artist
Christopher Downs – actor and entertainer in Taiwan and China, known there as 夏克立
William Henry Drummond – Irish-born Canadian poet
Louis Dudek – poet
Arthur Erickson – architect (Robson Square, Vancouver; Canadian Chancery, Washington DC; Roy Thomson Hall; Museum of Anthropology, UBC; Simon Fraser University; Museum of Glass, Tacoma; California Plaza, San Diego Convention Center)
Mary Fahl – singer and actress
Colin Ferguson – actor, Eureka
Karl Fischer – architect practicing in Montreal and New York City
Jessalyn Gilsig – actress, Boston Public, NYPD Blue, Nip/Tuck, Glee
Grace Glowicki – actress and filmmaker
Evan Goldberg – co-writer of Superbad, Pineapple Express
Jonathan Goldstein – author and radio producer, host of WireTap on CBC Radio One
Chilly Gonzales – Grammy-nominated musician
Linda Griffiths – playwright, actress
Paul Haddad – actor
Aaron Harris – percussionist/drummer, of Islands, Montreal-based indie rock group
Maxwell M. Kalman – architect, designed Canada's first mall Norgate shopping centre
George Karpati
Kid Koala, born Eric San – turntablist and musician
Mia Kirshner – actress, The L Word
Veronika Krausas – composer
Christian Lander – author of the Stuff White People Like blog
Robert Lantos – film producer
Irving Layton – poet
Stephen Leacock – humorist and economist
Rachelle Lefevre – actress, Big Wolf on Campus, Twilight
Norman Levine (BA, MA) – writer
Daniel Levitin – writer, This Is Your Brain On Music; musician
Julia Loktev – director of The Loneliest Planet, Day Night Day Night
Brian Macdonald – choreographer and dancer in Canada, New York, and Europe
Hugh MacLennan – writer, Two Solitudes, Barometer Rising
Miles Mander – early film actor, director and novelist
Ruth Marshall – actress who played in Flashpoint as the SRU's forensic psychologist
Cameron Mathison – actor, All My Children
Marc Mayer – art curator and director of the National Gallery of Canada
Harry Mayerovitch – artist
John McCrae – surgeon, poet, author of Canadian poem "In Flanders' Fields"
Kate McGarrigle – musician and folk-singer
Dorothy McIlwraith – editor of Weird Tales, 1940–54
Casey McKinnon – actress
Sophia Michahelles – pageant puppet designer and co-artistic director, Processional Arts Workshop
Raymond Moriyama – architect (Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto; Canadian Embassy, Tokyo; Ontario Science Centre; Toronto Reference Library; Canadian War Museum; Saudi Arabian National Museum, Riyadh)
Suniti Namjoshi – writer
Heather O'Neill – writer
Alisa Palmer – playwright and theatre director
Donald Patriquin – composer and organist
Mauro Pezzente – bassist and co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Sam Roberts – musician
John Rogers – writer/producer, Leverage
Rebecca Rosenblum – writer, winner of the 2007 Metcalf-Rooke Award
Dean Rosenthal – composer
Moshe Safdie – architect (National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Library, Salt Lake City Public Library, Musee de la Civilisation, Habitat '67)
Robert Edison Sandiford – short story writer and essayist
John Ralston Saul – Governor-General's-Award-winning philosophical author
Robert William Service – poet and writer of the Yukon Gold Rush
Mark Shainblum – author and comic book creator
William Shatner – actor, Boston Legal; Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek
Jaspreet Singh – author, Seventeen Tomatoes
Sonja Skarstedt – poet and illustrator
Donald Steven – Juno Award and Jules Léger Prize winning composer
Philippe Tatartcheff – Swiss-born poet and songwriter notable for writing songs in French with Anna and Kate McGarrigle
Ruth Taylor – poet
Gentile Tondino – artist
J. Torres – comic book writer
Zineb Triki – actress
Jessica Trisko – 2007 Miss Earth titleholder
Ken Vandermark – jazz saxophonist and MacArthur Foundation "genius award" winner
Aquil Virani - artist
Rufus Wainwright (briefly attended – dropped out upon record deal) – recording artist, musician
William Weintraub – author, journalist and filmmaker (Why Rock the Boat?)
Robert Stanley Weir – author (in 1908) of the English words to "O, Canada"
Matthew White – countertenor
Jan Wong – Globe and Mail columnist ("Lunch with Jan Wong" series); author of books including award-winning Red China Blues and Jan Wong's China
Royal Wood – singer-songwriter
Estelí Gomez - Grammy winning musician, university instructor
Architects
For a full list of notable alumni and faculty from the School of Architecture, see:
Inventors
Bernard Belleau – inventor of lamivudine, a drug used in the treatment of HIV and Hepatitis B infection
Willard Boyle – inventor of the charge-coupled device
Thomas Chang – creator of the first artificial cell
James Creighton (Law 1880) – considered the originator of North American ice hockey rules
Charles R. Drew (MDCM 1933) – black American medical pioneer; track star who led McGill to five intercollegiate titles; as medical advisor for the Blood for Britain program of World War II, the father of blood banks
Lorne Elias (PhD 1956) – inventor of the explosives vapour detector EVD-1
Alan Emtage – inventor of Archie, the grandfather of search engines
Colonel Dr. Cluny MacPherson (MD 1901) – inventor of the MacPherson respirator gas mask during World War I
Paul Moller – inventor of the Moller Skycar, a VTOL aircraft
Sports
Betty Archdale – former captain (1934/5) of English women's cricket team
Mike Babcock – NHL coach, formerly of the Toronto Maple Leafs; first and as of 2016 only coach to be a member of the Triple Gold Club, having won the Stanley Cup (Detroit, 2008), Olympic gold medal for men's ice hockey (2010, 2014), and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Ice Hockey World Championship
Russ Blinco – Montreal Maroons centre; 1935 NHL Rookie of the Year
Guy Boucher – former head coach of the Ottawa Senators
George Burnett – former head coach for the Edmonton Oilers
Doug Carpenter – former head coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils
Randy Chevrier – former NFL and CFL player
J. P. Darche – American football long snapper
Jacques Dussault - Teacher and American and Canadian football Coach. Coach for the Montreal Machine, Montreal Alouettes and Montreal Carabins
Ken Dryden (LLB 1974) – politician, lawyer, businessman, author; retired National Hockey League goaltender from the Montreal Canadiens; former president of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (MD, CM 2018) – American football player for the Kansas City Chiefs, graduated from McGill's Medical School in 2018; first medical doctor and first Quebecer to play and win the Super Bowl.
Phil Edwards (MD 1936) – one of Canada's most decorated Olympians with 5 bronze medals
Jack Gelineau – Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks goaltender who won Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year in 1950
Jennifer Heil (BComm) – 2006 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle skiing
George Hodgson (BEng 1916) – Canadian Olympic men's swim team (1912 and 1920); McGill's first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal; first Canadian to win two Olympic gold medals (Stockholm, 1916)
Jackrabbit Johannsen – Norwegian-Canadian; credited with introducing cross-country skiing to North America; lived in retirement at McGill's Mont-Saint-Hilaire Gault Nature Reserve
Charline Labonté (BEd – Physical Education) – 2006 Olympic gold medalist in women's ice hockey
R. Tait McKenzie – pioneer in college physical education; sculptor; physician
James Naismith (BA 1887) – inventor of basketball; University of Kansas coach; namesake of six NCAA college basketball awards and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Kevin O'Neill – former head coach of the Toronto Raptors; former head coach for USC Trojans men's basketball.
Frank Patrick (BA 1908) – wrote much of the NHL rule book
Hon. Sydney David Pierce (BA 1922, BCL 1925, LLD 1956) – 1924 Olympic swimmer and former Canadian ambassador to many countries
Richard "Dick" Pound – former Olympic swimmer, former IOC vice president, chancellor of McGill, current chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
Silver Quilty – Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president.
Allan Roth – baseball and hockey statistician for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (1947-1964) and the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (1944-1947). Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.
Samantha Rapoport – NFL Director of Player Development, former Canada women's national football team and Montreal Blitz quarterback
Kim St-Pierre (BEd 2005) – Canadian Olympic women's hockey team (2002 and 2006), McGill's first female athlete to become an Olympic gold medallist (Salt Lake City, 2002)
Frank "Shag" Shaughnessy – first professional football coach hired by a Canadian university, he revolutionized Canadian college football by introducing the forward pass in 1921 in a game against Syracuse University and lobbied for a decade until the forward pass was adopted by the Canadian Rugby Football Union in 1931
Howard Stupp (born 1955) - Olympic wrestler
Jack Wright (MDCM 1928) – 11-year veteran of Canadian Davis Cup team in the 1920s and 1930s
David Zilberman – Canadian Olympic heavyweight wrestler
Fictional characters
Major Donald Craig, Canadian commando serving with British special forces during World War II, portrayed by Rock Hudson in the 1967 war movie Tobruk. Though the film was loosely based on real events, it's not clear whether or not Hudson's character was based on a real person. Most likely he was a pastiche character, given a Canadian background as cover for Hudson's inability to emulate a British accent.
Dr. Walter Langkowski, researcher from the Marvel Comics Canadian superhero series Alpha Flight; portrayed as a McGill-based biophysicist researching the gamma radiation accident which created the Hulk; his discoveries transformed him into the superhero known as Sasquatch
Lieutenant Alan McGregor, played by Gary Cooper, Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Dr. Robert Richardson, played by Lew Ayres, Johnny Belinda (1948)
Dr. James Wilson, oncologist and best friend to main character Gregory House in the Fox Network TV drama House
Others
Monroe Abbey – Canadian lawyer and Jewish civic leader
Amal Elsana Alh'jooj – Bedouin Israeli feminist and peace activist
Norman Bethune – as "Bai Qiu'en", subject of essay In Memory of Norman Bethune (in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, Chapter 17: Serving the People) (Jinian Bai Qiu'en) by Mao Zedong; medical professor; became Red Army's medical chief and trained thousands of Chinese as medics and doctors; died in 1939 (from blood poisoning) during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Frank E. Buck – horticulturalist
Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll – Scottish peer and landowner
Chi-Ming Chow – cardiologist and board member of the Heart and Stroke Foundation
Dmytro Cipywnyk – physician and academic
Caroline Codsi: President and founder of Women in Governance and board member of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Lawrence Moore Cosgrave – Canadian signer of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender
Thomas Neill Cream – Glasgow-born serial killer of the 1800s, thought by some to have been Jack the Ripper
Jennifer Davidson - (BSW, 1991) child rights advocate and founding director of CELCIS, awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2020 for services to the care and protection of children and young people in Scotland and abroad
Alanna Devine – founder of McGill Student Animal Legal Defence Fund and director of Animal Advocacy
Victor Dzau (MD) – president of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
Rocco Galati – constitutional lawyer; challenged Justice Marc Nadon's appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada
Charles Goren – world champion bridge player and bestselling author
Bertha Hosang Mah, first Chinese woman to graduate from a Canadian university (McGill 1917)
John Harrison, lawyer and general counsel of Airbus
John Peters Humphrey – author of the first draft of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Arnold Johnson – performed the first cardiac heart catheterization procedure in Canada in 1946
Annie MacDonald Langstaff – in 1914 became McGill's and Quebec's first female law graduate but was not admitted to the Quebec bar until 2006 (posthumously); the Quebec bar did not admit women until 1941
Neville Maxwell – British journalist; author of notable book on the Sino-Indian War
Nancy Morris – first female rabbi in Scotland
William Reginald Morse, Canadian author, medical doctor, and medical missionary in China