Greg MacLeod

Greg MacLeod OC
Born	1935 (1935) Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died	2017 (aged 81–82)
Occupations	Priest professor
Awards	Order of Canada

Greg MacLeod OC (1935 – 2017) was a Canadian priest and educator from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Born in Sydney Mines in 1935, MacLeod attended the Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax and was ordained as a priest in 1961. In 1974 he become a professor of philosophy at the College of Cape Breton where he was involved in community organizations focused on economic and social development. He was a member of the Order of Canada. An account and analysis of MacLeod's life and community efforts was published in two books in 2019.

Life

MacLeod was born to a family of nine in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia in 1935. His father worked in a coal mine, and died when MacLeod was seven years old. As a child he sold newspapers to provide income for his family.

MacLeod was educated at Xavier Junior College in Sydney. He studied there for two years before moving to mainland Nova Scotia to complete his studies. Following his graduation, MacLeod attended the Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax, and was subsequently ordained as a priest in 1961. He earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Louvain in Belgium, followed by post-doctoral studies at Oxford University.

MacLeod became a professor of philosophy at the College of Cape Breton (later Cape Breton University) in 1974, where he founded the Tompkins Institute for Human Values and Technology.

Through his work with the Tompkins Institute at Cape Breton University, MacLeod was the founder of two community organizations focused on driving economic development, namely New Dawn Enterprises and Banking Community Assets Group. He was known to donate part of his salary to the Beaton Institute and other causes.

In 2016, CTV News erroneously reported that MacLeod was a distant relative of Donald Trump. They later retracted the story after discovering it was an April Fools' Day prank.

MacLeod was a member of the Order of Canada. He died at the age of 81 on 3 May 2017. He was remembered by Chief Terry Paul of Membertou First Nation as "a very instrumental person for Cape Breton."

Legacy

In 2019, an account of MacLeod's life and community efforts written by Daniel Doucet was released, titled Father Greg: A Life. A second book by Harvey Johnstone titled Boundary Exploration: The Entrepreneurial Experiments of Fr. Greg MacLeod was published the same year and provides insight on the cultural and economic impact of MacLeod's work.

See also

• Antigonish Movement

References

Sources

• Mortimer, George (3 May 2017). "Popular Cape Breton priest, Father Greg MacLeod, dies at 81". CBC News. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• "Father Greg MacLeod dead at 81". PNI Atlantic News. Postmedia Network. 2 May 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• "A tribute to a Cape Breton icon". PNI Atlantic News. Postmedia Network. 15 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• Keshen, Richard (2009). "Interview: Greg MacLeod". CBU Commons. Cape Breton University. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• "The Ideas Man: Greg MacLeod" (PDF). Cape Breton University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• "Cape Breton professor shocked to learn he's related to Trump". CTV News. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• Nock, Bobby (15 May 2017). "Funeral for Father Greg MacLeod, Today". CKOA-FM. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• Higgins, Michael W. (16 May 2021). "Antigonish Activist: The pragmatic idealism of Fr. Gregory MacLeod". Commonweal. New York. Archived from the original on 16 February 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• Patterson, Elizabeth (3 December 2019). "Book examines Father Greg's community development work". The Chronicle Herald. Sydney, NS: SaltWire Network. Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
• "Father Gregory Jerome MacLeod". Diocese of Antigonish. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2025.

Further reading

• Doucet, Daniel (2019). Father Greg – A Life. Breton Books. ISBN 978-1-9269-0873-1.
• Mason, Colin (14 September 2022). "The role of community entrepreneurs in depleted communities: A case study of Father Greg MacLeod's 'action research' in Cape Breton". Local Economy. 37 (4): 317–327. doi:10.1177/02690942221125148.
• Johnstone, Harvey (2020). "Building on the CED Legacy of Fr. Greg MacLeod" (PDF). International Journal of Co-operative Accounting and Management. 3 (1). Saint Mary's University. doi:10.36830/IJCAM.20201 (inactive 17 June 2025). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2025.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of June 2025 (link)
• Lionais, Doug (June 2015). "Social Enterprise in Atlantic Canada". Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research. 6. doi:10.22230/cjnser.2015v6n1a200 – via ResearchGate.

External links

• Data related to Greg MacLeod at Wikidata