New building named for SDU alumni Don and Marion McDougall
The University of Prince Edward Island has recognized the leadership support of two distinguished alumni by naming its newest academic building in their honour. In acknowledgment of Donald and Marion McDougall's commitment to higher education, the University has named the building that houses the Centre for Life-long Learning, School of Business, and Co-op Education and Entrepreneurship programs as Don and Marion McDougall Hall.
Don and Marion McDougall are native Prince Edward Islanders who live in London, Ontario and Ebbsfleet, PEI. They are both alumni of St. Dunstan's University, one of UPEI's two founding institutions. Since they graduated 50 years ago they have generously supported their Alma Mater. In addition to their previous support, the McDougalls have just made a new $2 million gift to the UPEI Building a Legacy Campaign.
"We truly appreciate the generosity of Don and Marion McDougall in making this wonderful gift," said UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. "The McDougalls have shown leadership in their national and local community, and now they are leading the way toward the long-term success of UPEI and our students."
"This donation is a gratitude gift for all the wonderful things which happened to us that can be traced directly back to our years here. It is also a vote of confidence in UPEI, its faculty and staff," said Don McDougall.
McDougall was born in 1937, the son of Frank and Patricia (Callaghan) MacDougall of Kinkora. After teaching high school in Summerside, he attended the University of Western Ontario and graduated with his Master's Degree in Business Administration in 1961. He spent the next 12 years in managerial positions with the Labatt Brewing Company. He was named President in 1973, a position he held for six years.
After working with Howard Webster of Montreal in the early 1980s, he acquired Novatronics Inc. of Stratford, Ontario in 1983. Over the next 20 years he expanded this aerospace company globally and sold it to Curtiss-Wright Inc. in 2003. He has been a director of a number of private and public companies including: Rambri Management Inc., Burlington Investments Inc., Systemhouse Inc., and Spectral Diagnostics, Inc.
He is a past chair of the Board of Governors of the University of Western Ontario and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Ivey Business School at UWO. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in recognition of the leadership role he played in bringing a major league baseball franchise to Toronto in 1976, the Toronto Blue Jays.
Locally, he served on the Board of the Holland College Foundation and as Chair of Slemon Park Corporation from its inception in1991 until his retirement in 2005. In 1978, UPEI awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Marion McDougall was born in Little Pond in 1938, the daughter of Henry and Anna (Quinn) MacDonald. After graduating from St. Dunstan's she taught at Morell High School before moving to London where she taught Grade 5. In 1961 she and Don were married and for 24 years she worked full-time raising their five children—Brian, Donna, Neil, Colin, and Anne, all of whom have earned an MBA degree.
Marion returned to university in the mid-eighties to complete the required courses for her Ontario teaching certificate and she worked as a part-time teacher until her retirement in 1993. Recently she has been studying at a retreat centre in Clearwater, Florida, where she enjoyed the exposure to what she considers a real treasure of the Church, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
During the naming ceremony at UPEI, she looked back more than half a century to her years as a student at SDU with great pride and appreciation.
"We feel we were truly blessed to have attended St. Dunstan's University where the Catholic faith was alive and well," she said. "We made lasting friendships here and came to treasure the faith and values which our parents first taught us and which were nurtured by the wonderful priests and lay teachers we had here."
The naming ceremony was an opportunity to celebrate Don and Marion McDougall's extensive family connections on PEI. Marion's siblings are Bishop Faber MacDonald, Clare Doyle, Mary Rose Garon, and Sandy MacDonald. Don's siblings are Sister Frances MacDougall, Peggy Forbes, Patricia Mella, Phil MacDougall, and the late Peter MacDougall.
McDougall Hall is a 50,000-square-foot building of red brick and burnished copper that houses top-tier teaching and research facilities designed to spark an entrepreneurial drive in students and business executives and to promote a commitment to lifelong learning. The very first students to take advantage of the new facility will begin classes on Wednesday, September 3.
Pictured on the front page of this website are Dr. Roberta MacDonald, Dean of Business; Marion McDougall, SDU '58; President Wade MacLauchlan; Don McDougall, SDU '58; and Fred Hyndman, Chair of the UPEI Board of Governors.
