Roger Gaudry

The first lay rector in the history of the Université de Montréal, a position he held from 1965 to 1975, Roger Gaudry was a figurehead of the Montréal scientific community, on the national and international levels.

Roger Gaudry was chairman of the Science Council of Canada from 1972 to 1975 and of the Council of the United Nations University from 1974 to 1976. He also served on the boards of directors of corporations and associations such as Alcan Aluminium Limited, the Bank of Montréal, Nordic Laboratories Inc. and the National Cancer Institute. Although he officially retired from the Université de Montréal in 1980, he still played an active role within the Jules and Paul-Émile Léger Foundation and the Clinical Research Institute of Montréal.

Roger Gaudry began his career as a teacher in 1940, as a chemistry professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval. At the time, he was the first non-physician teaching professional to be admitted to the faculty, where he taught for 14 years.

In 1954, he left teaching to join Ayerst, McKenna and Harrison as director of one of the largest pharmaceutical research laboratories in Canada. After 11 years in this particularly successful career, he returned to the education sector as rector of the Université de Montréal.

Roger Gaudry was chosen for countless distinctions and honorary degrees. On three occasions, he received the Province of Quebec Science Award and he also received several medals, notably from the Association des anciens de l’Université Laval (1965), the Medal of the Centenary of Canada (1967), the Medal of the Chemical Institute of Canada (1974) and some 10 honorary degrees from prestigious universities in Canada and abroad.

Roger Gaudry was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1968, Knight of Malta in 1976, Compagnon de Lavoisier by the Québec Order of Chemists (1985) and a Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec in 1992. In 1996, he received the Jose Vasconselos World Education Award, presented by the World Cultural Council.

Roger Gaudry died in 2001. He was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Scientific category in 1999 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.