Distinguished Service Awards

Distinguished Service Awards

Joan McGuigan, BCom'55

It took 18 years after her graduation before she reconnected with McGill and the Alumni Association, says Joan McGuigan, but since then she has maintained a long and very committed relationship with her alma mater. She has been actively involved in the McGill Women's Alumnae Association since the early 1970s, serving as its president twice and as vice-president of the MAA twice as well. She was one of the first co-chairs of the McGill Book Fair, has served as Class Agent for the Commerce Class of '55 since 1988, and has been an integral player in numerous McGill fundraising projects that provide funds for scholarships.

Outside of McGill, Joan worked as a real estate agent for Royal Lepage for 25 years, and in 1995 began her own real estate brokerage with her husband Brian. Real estate runs in the family: Joan's daughter has followed the same career path in Toronto, and her son just joined her firm this year.

"All of my McGill volunteer work has been a very satisfying experience for me," says Joan, who is most proud of the work done by the McGill Women's Alumnae Association. "Since the '70s, when the Alumnae scholarship endowment fund awarded $5,000 annually to women graduates and undergraduates, our 111-year-old organization is proud to boast that through donations, bequests, and fundraisers like the annual Book Fair, we now are able to award nearly $70,000 annually in scholarships, fellowships and student aid to McGill women."

Anton Angelich, BSc'73

New York City native Anton Angelich says McGill "has been the cornerstone of my career." His education provided him with the skills to be a success in the food technology industry, and he was even hired for his first job by a McGill grad, Frank Dosne, BEng'46, who later took Anton with him when he accepted an executive position at Nestlé Foods. Anton is now Vice President of Marketing for Haarman & Reimer Corporation in New Jersey, one of the world's largest manufacturers of flavours for food products. Interested in all aspects of food production, he has a farm in New Hampshire where he raises cattle, maple syrup and apples.

Anton has shown his gratitude to McGill by helping out with recruiting, by participating in summer send-offs for new McGill students in his area and by involving himself with Friends of McGill Inc., which coordinates fundraising for the university in the U.S. He also served as president of the New York branch for five years. During that time, says Alumni Relations Officer Trish Duff, "he really brought the branch to the top of the pack with an excellent variety of well-organized and well-attended events" eventually earning Branch of the Year honours.