Pat McGeer

Patrick "Pat" McGeer (born June 29, 1927) was a Canadian basketball player who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

McGeer was born in Vancouver. and was the son of Gerry McGeer a famous "old warhorse" of the British Columbia Liberal Party and later Senator. He was part of the Canadian basketball team, which finished ninth in the Olympic tournament.

McGeer attended Magee Secondary School, playing on three championship basketball teams and was invited to join the Vancouver Lauries in their bid for the Canadian Championship playoffs in 1944. During McGeer's years as a player for the University of British Columbia (UBC) McGeer was the co-winner of the high-scoring trophy at the Pacific Northwest Championships in 1945/46, which UBC won, and played with the team in their successful bid for the Canadian Championship in 1948. The 1945/46 UBC Thunderbirds, was so good they beat the Harlem Globetrotters on their visit, winning 42-38.

McGeer graduated from UBC in 1948 with a BA, then went on to Princeton for his Ph.D (1951) and an M.D. at UBC (1958). In 1959, McGeer became a professor at the UBC Faculty of Medicine and remained so until his retirement. McGeer continues to research and publish in brain-related research, particularly on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, ALS and Multiple Sclerosis, with more than 500 papers and three books.

McGeer ran for office, under the banner of the Liberal Party of British Columbia, and was in the remaining party caucus who joined the rebuilt Social Credit Party of British Columbia for the 1975 election, taking his seat, Vancouver-Point Grey, with him into the Social Credit caucus. In 1976 he became a member of the provincial cabinet, serving in various portfolios until 1986. McGeer is a very public advocate for the idea of a Strait of Georgia bridge and other projects. Though a neuroscientist by training, his scientific interests are broad and often original, in one case designing a working satellite dish made of two pieces of carefully-cut plywood, slots in which used a refraction effect to focus the signal.

He was inducted into the UBC Athletics Hall of Fame and received an Award of Distinction award from the UBC Alumni Association in 1994. In 1995, he and his wife Edith were inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Wisniewski Award for extraordinary contributions to Alzheimers disease research. McGeer's old seat-mate in Vancouver-Point Grey (which was a 2-member riding), Garde Gardom, is the current Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

External links

* [http://72.232.38.190/EN/athletes/query/details2.php?id=36736 profile]
* [http://www.ubcsportshalloffame.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?person_id=76&searchall=1 UBC Sports Hall of Fame Inductee page, bio by ]