Canadian poet Alexander McNeill was born at The Corran, Ireland on May 10, 1842. In 1872 McNeill and his wife Hester moved to Canada, settling first in Elderslie township before building a home "The Corran" near Wiarton. A practising lawyer, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the first time in 1882 and continued to serve until 1901. McNeill died April 18, 1932.

Gregory McNeice was a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo from 1968 to 1993.

McNeice’s research interest was in stress analysis, especially in human bones, joints and prostheses. He began investigating scoliosis in 1974 and helped to develop a device called the scoliosis chariot, which was used to keep a patient in one position while being x-rayed. He also helped develop a computer program that would help physicians measure the progress of the disease and a new stainless-steel rod that could be implanted into children’s backs until the spine straightened.[1]

In 1980, McNeice helped create a new floor for the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario in partnership with Spieth-Anderson Ltd., the manufacturer. The new floor was installed shortly before the 1980 Gymnastics World Cup and was designed to respond to the movements of athletes and cause less orthopedic injury.[2]

In 1986, McNeice served as the Chief Medical Officer at World Junior Figure Skating Championship in 1986.[3]

McNeice along wide John Medley and Wayne Brodland formed the Implant Design Group at the University of Waterloo in 1986. The group’s formation was in response to ‘materials research’ being made the focus of one of the five Ontario Centres of Excellence by the provincial government. This research team received $50,000 a year from the Centre to focus on biomechanics, specifically applying mechanics to implants in the body.[4]

In business 1868-1892

Robert Angus McLaren was born July 28, 1895. He was the longest-serving superintendent of Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, holding that position from 1934 until 1963. He died on January 27, 1972.

Leonard S. McLaine was born June 27, 1887 in Manchester, England. After his education in the United States he worked for the Division of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, Canada. On July 16, 1942, he was appointed Dominion Entomologist and Assistant Director of Science Service. He died July 20, 1943.

Donald McKay was a fur trader who spent much of his life in the Timiskaming district of what is today northern Ontario and Quebec. Born to Scottish immigrants near or around Montreal he had several siblings, including Angus and Neil who also worked in the fur trade. When the Hudson's Bay Company post Frederick House was established in 1785, McKay who was then a clerk, was master of Canadian house, Langue de Terre, on Lake Mistinikon. By 1794 he had a post on Matawagamingue, today Mattagami, that served as the base for the area and he established the Flying Post on Groundhog Lake, which was in operation in 1800. From 1804 to 1806 McKay was in charge of the depot at Fort Timiskaming before relocating to Abitibi for a short time. He returned to Fort Timiskaming in 1806 and remained there as master until his death on June 9, 1820. Two of McKay's sons, Donald John and John, worked in the fur trade as well, serving as clerks in the Timiskaming district for the North West and Hudson's Bay companies.

Jerome McGann is an American textual scholar who specializes in the history of literature and culture in the late eighteenth century to the present.

Zella Rose Dexter McDonald was born July 9, 1882 in Wentworth, Ontario to David Dexter and Isabella (McLachlin). She married Charles Campbell McDonald June 29, 1909 in Hamilton, with Ella Anthes acting as a witness.

Eric McCormack was a Canadian author, reviewer, and academic. He grew up in the small industrial community of Bellshill in Scotland where his his father worked in the steel mill. Eric McCormack obtained a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. In 1966 he left Scotland for doctoral studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1970 he accepted a teaching post in the English Department of St. Jerome's College (Now St. Jerome's University) at the University of Waterloo, where he specialized in seventeenth-century and contemporary literature.

As an author Eric McCormack began his career writing short stories which appeared in small literary journals including Prism International, West Coast Review, Malahat Review, and The New Quarterly. In 1987 his first book Inspecting the Vaults was released. This is a collection of nineteen short stories, thirteen of which had been previously published in literary magazines. His first novel, The Paradise Motel, was published in February 1989. Eric McCormack became the focus of considerable media interest and his books were translated into many foreign languages. His next novel The Mysterium was released in 1989, and First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, was published in 1997. The Dutch Wife was published in 2002 and his final work, Cloud was published in 2014. Eric McCormack also frequently reviewed for The Globe and Mail. His works to date have received much critical acclaim.

Eric McCormack had won and/or been nominated for many prestigious literary awards. In 1988 Eric McCormack was one of two recipients of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the Canada Caribbean Region for his work Inspecting the Vaults. He was awarded the Spring Book Award by the Scottish Arts Council for his novel The Paradise Motel in 1990, and in the same year he was one of the nominees for the People's Prize for Fiction. In 1997 the author was short-listed for the Governor-General Award for his work of fiction First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. In 1999 Eric McCormack was awarded the Literacy Award at the Eleventh K-W Arts Awards Ceremony.

Eric McCormack also read at many international and national literary festivals including Harbourfront, Vancouver, Ottawa, The Eden Mills Writers' Festival and the Elora Writers Festival. He also gave readings at the University of Waterloo, at other universities, in local public libraries, in bookstores, and at other venues.

Julia McCarthy was born in Toronto in 1964. In 1987, McCarthy graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Waterloo. In 1988, she audited a course in Developmental Psychology from Seattle University. And between 1991 and 1994, she audited select courses in Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychology from the University of West Georgia.

McCarthy lived in the United States of America for ten years, most notably in Alaska and Georgia where she was guest lecturer in English and Psychology at the University of West Georgia (1992). She also lived in Norway and South Africa before returning to Canada and settling in Upper Kennetcook (East Hants) and the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. While in Nova Scotia, McCarthy worked as a freelance writer, teacher of creative writing, editor, and potter. As a potter, McCarthy was the owner of Mudaphors Studio (in Nova Scotia). McCarthy was married twice, first to Richard Alapeck and later to Dr. Graham Stewart.

In 2002, McCarthy published her first book Stormthrower. In 2010, she published her second book Return from Erebus for which she won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award in 2011. In 2017, McCarthy published her third anthology All the Names Between which was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry at the 2017 Governor General's Awards and was awarded the J. M. Abraham Poetry Award (formerly the Atlantic Poetry Prize).

Julia McCarthy died in 2021.

Martha Faith "Faith" Gribble was born in Chudleigh, Devonshire, England on October 31, 1874. She married widower William Snider (1845-1915), former mayor of Waterloo, in York, Ontario (now Toronto) on January 15, 1902. Together they had three children: Ralph Edward, Elsie Louise, and Gertrude Mabel. Widowed by William in 1915, she later married Wilbert James McArthur. She died in Langford, British Columbia on April 8, 1963.

Burton Clare Matthews was a professor and university administrator born December 16, 1926 in Kerwood, Ontario. Matthews received a B.S.A. from the University of Toronto in 1947, a A.M. from the University of Missouri in 1948, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1952. From 1961 to 1962, he studied at Oxford University as a Nuffield Foundation Post-Doctorate Fellow. Matthews began his academic career at the Ontario Agricultural College as an assistant professor of soil science in 1952 becoming an associate professor in 1956 and a full professor in 1958. From 1962 to 1966, he was the head of the department of soil science.

In 1966, he was appointed Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Guelph. In 1970, he was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo and was reappointed for a second six-year term in 1975. From 1982 to 1984, he was the chairman of the Ontario Council of University Affairs. From 1983 to 1988, he was President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guelph.

Dr. Matthews died January 2, 2004 in Waterloo.