Pat McGeer Obituary

Patrick Lucey McGeer, OC, OBC, FRSC, a Canadian physician, professor and medical researcher has died. He died Monday, Aug. 29, 2022 at age 95.

Greg Dickson, a writer and former CBC journalist, described McGeer as the consummate polymath involved in a “lifelong pursuit of knowledge.”

“His enthusiasm was infectious,” Dickson said. “He loved the discovery of science, the thrill of discovery.”

McGeer was regarded as a leading authority on the causes and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and was the principal author of the inflammatory hypothesis of the disease, which postulated that Alzheimer’s is an inflammation of the cortex.

McGeer was also;

• A basketball player who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics,
• A politician who represented the constituency of Vancouver-Point Grey in the British Columbia legislature from 1962 to 1986, and
• A member of the British Columbia cabinet from 1976 to 1986.

After leaving politics in 1986, McGeer focused on science, spending decades researching Alzheimer’s disease alongside his wife, Edith.

Both were awarded the Order of Canada for their research.