Theodore Harding Rand

Theodore Harding Rand was the first Chancellor of the University after the opening of the Arts Department in 1890. In that year he was made Chairman of the New Faculty of Arts, and in 1892 was appointed Chancellor, a position which he held until his resignation in 1895. -- Taken from The McMaster University Monthly "Portraits in Our College"

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Rev. Oates C. S. Wallace

Oates Charles Symonds Wallace entered Acadia University to Prepare for the ministry and graduated in Arts in 1883 at the head of his class. He studied Theology at Newton Theological Seminary, and during his course there, accepted a call to the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Lawrence, Mass., where he was ordained in 1885. In 1891 he begun his duties as a pastor of the Bloor Street Church, Toronto, where he continues for four and a half years. In 1895 he was appointed Chancellor of McMaster University. -- Taken from Canadian Baptist Pioneers

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Alexander C. McKay

Alexander Charles McKay was born in Ontario, Canada and was the product of the school system of his province. After a brilliant career at the Provincial University and successful experience as a teacher, he was appointed to the chair of Mathematics and Physics at the opening of the Arts Department in 1890. Upon the retirement of Chancellor Wallace in 1905, he was at once recognized as the logical successor, and was appointed Chancellor with unanimous approval. --Taken from The McMaster University Monthly "Portraits in Our College"

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Abraham Lincoln McCrimmon

An Ontario native, A. L. McCrimmon was McMaster University's fifth chancellor (1911 - 1922). A University of Toronto graduate (BA, MA) and gold metalist in philosophy and logic in 1890, he accepted a teaching post at Woodstock College in 1892, becoming its Principal five years later. In 1904, after completeing an MA in economics and the new discipline of sociology at the University of Chicago, he was appointed to a professorship at McMaster University. Armed with his Chicago credentials, McCrimmon launches new courses in political economy and sociology, adding a course in education by the time he was selected to succeed McKay as Chancellor in 1911.

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Howard P. Whidden

Rev. Howard Primrose Whidden, graduated from Acadia University in 1891, and from McMaster University in 1894 in Theology. After post-graduate studies in Chicago, he settled in Morden, Manitoba. After a brief pastorate in Galt, Ontario, he joined Brandon College staff in 1900 and returned to Brandon as its President in 1912, after a pastorate in Daytona, Ohio, from 1903 to 1912. From Brandon he came to be the executive head of McMaster University in 1923.

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George Peel Gilmour

George Peel Gilmour was born in the city of Hamilton, Ontario in 1900. He took up the chair of Church History at McMaster in 1929 and held the position for 27 years. He was appointed Chancellor of McMaster University in 1941. When the position was renamed in 1950, he was appointed President and Vice Chancellor, a position which he held until his retirement in 1961.

He received three degrees from McMaster University and completed post-graduate work at Oxford and Yale.

Dr. Gilmour was named "Man of the Year" in 1950 and his tenure as president saw the re-organization of the university as a private foundation and broadened from its religious background to an all-embracing institution. He also held positions in the Baptist Convention in Ontario and Quebec and was president of the Canadian Council of Churches from 1946 to 1948. He was named citizen of the year by the City Council of Hamilton in 1950 and received eight honorary degrees.

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