43 Notable alumni of Acadia University
Updated: June 11, 2026 EliteDegrees
Acadia University is ranked #1,513 in the world and #43 in Canada by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 43 notable alumni from Acadia University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Acadia University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Harris Harding Bligh
1842-1918 (aged 76)
librarian
lawyer
law librarian
Harris Harding Bligh was a Canadian lawyer and librarian.
2. John Walter Jones
1878-1954 (aged 76)
teacher
politician
writer
farmer
head teacher
John Walter Jones was a politician and farmer in Prince Edward Island, Canada. An agronomist, he was instrumental in introducing the potato crop to the island, which was to become a staple of the economy. In 1935, he received the King George V medal as the best farmer in the province.
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3. John Wallace de Beque Farris
1878-1970 (aged 92)
jurist
lawyer
politician
John Wallace de Beque Farris, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician.
4. Henry Nicholas Paint
1830-1921 (aged 91)
insurance broker
politician
Henry Nicholas Paint was a Canadian politician, shipowner and merchant.
5. Theodore Harding Rand
1835-1900 (aged 65)
educator
Theodore Harding Rand was a Canadian educator and poet.
6. John Burpee Mills
1850-1913 (aged 63)
lawyer
politician
John Burpee Mills, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician.
7. James Wilberforce Longley
1849-1922 (aged 73)
politician
judge
James Wilberforce Longley was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, politician, and judge.
8. Neil McLeod
1842-1915 (aged 73)
politician
judge
Neil McLeod was a Prince Edward Island lawyer, judge, politician, the fifth premier, and Leader of the Opposition during the amalgamation of the Prince Edward Island legislature. He was born at Uigg on the island to Roderick McLeod and Flora McDonald, Baptist immigrants from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He was educated at the Uigg Grammar School and in...
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9. Ron Stewart
1942-2024 (aged 82)
politician
Ronald Daniel Stewart CC ONS was a Canadian medical doctor and politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton North in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1993 to 1997. He was a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. He played a role in the professionalization of emergency medicine in the latter half of the 20th century,...
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10. Shirley Jackson Case
1872-1947 (aged 75)
university teacher
theologian
mathematician
Shirley Jackson Case was a historian of early Christianity, and a liberal theologian. He served as dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School.
11. Ernest Howard Armstrong
1864-1946 (aged 82)
lawyer
politician
Ernest Howard Armstrong, KC was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the ninth premier of Nova Scotia from 1923 to 1925.
12. Judy Wakhungu
politician
minister
Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu EGH is a Kenyan politician, diplomat, and geologist who was appointed by the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, as ambassador to France on the 26th of January 2018. Immediately prior to her present position, she served as the cabinet secretary for environment and regional development authorities from 25 April 2013 until 17 January 2018.
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13. Annie Marion MacLean
1869-1934 (aged 65)
university teacher
writer
sociologist
Annie Marion MacLean was a pioneering American sociologist of the women's Chicago School, and is sometimes referred to as the "mother of contemporary ethnography". She was one of the first women to pursue a professional career in sociology.
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14. Carlyle Smith Beals
1899-1979 (aged 80)
astrophysicist
astronomer
Carlyle Smith Beals, OC FRS was a Canadian astronomer.
15. Andrea Burk
1982-. (aged 44)
rugby union player
Andrea Burk is a Canadian rugby footballer. She represented Canada in rugby union at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup and in rugby league at the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup. She made her debut in their 2009 tour of France.
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16. Henry Emmerson
1853-1914 (aged 61)
lawyer
politician
Henry Robert Emmerson, PC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist who served as Premier of New Brunswick from 1897 to 1900.
17. Charles Frederick Hartt
1840-1878 (aged 38)
geologist
scientific collector
biologist
paleontologist
meteorological observer
Charles Frederick Hartt was a Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who specialized in the geology of Brazil.
18. Paul Masotti
1965-. (aged 61)
Canadian football player
Paul Masotti is a Canadian former professional football player and current front office executive with the Canadian Football League (CFL)'s Toronto Argonauts. Masotti played the wide receiver position for 12 seasons with the Toronto Argonauts, from 1988 to 1999, retiring just before the 2000 season to join the Argos front office first as executive vice-president, and then as general manager.
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19. Lance Woolaver
1948-. (aged 78)
poet
Lance Gerard Woolaver is a Canadian author, poet, playwright, lyricist, and director. His best-known works include books, film and biographical plays about Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, including Maud Lewis The Heart on the Door, and Maud Lewis - World Without Shadows. His plays include one about international singer Portia White, who was born in Nova Scotia: Portia White -...
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20. Scott Armstrong
1966-. (aged 60)
teacher
head teacher
politician
David Scott Armstrong is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a Conservative member to represent the electoral district of Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley in the federal by-elections on November 9, 2009. He served until his defeat in the 2015 election.
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21. William Pearly Oliver
1912-1989 (aged 77)
William Pearly Oliver OC CM worked at the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church for twenty-five years (1937–1962) and was instrumental in developing the four leading organizations to support Black Nova Scotians in the 20th century: Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1945), the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (1967), the Black United Front (1969) and the Black Cultural...
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22. Norman McLeod Rogers
1894-1940 (aged 46)
lawyer
teacher
university teacher
politician
Norman McLeod Rogers PC MP was a Canadian lawyer and statesman. He served as the Member of Parliament for Kingston, Ontario, Canada and as a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. He was also an early biographer of King.
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23. Mark Day
1978-. (aged 48)
actor
television actor
Mark Day is a Canadian actor and broadcaster from Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia.
24. William A. White
1874-1936 (aged 62)
teacher
chaplain
William Andrew White II was a Canadian chaplain and military officer from Nova Scotia who was commissioned as the first black officer in the Canadian Army. He served in World War I as a military chaplain, only one of seven Black officers in the Canadian military during the war.
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25. Milton Fowler Gregg
1892-1978 (aged 86)
diplomat
teacher
politician
Brigadier Milton Fowler Gregg, VC, PC, OC, CBE, MC & Bar, ED, CD was a Canadian military officer and a First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. In later life, he was a Member of the Canadian Parliament, cabinet...
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26. Dale Frail
1961-. (aged 65)
astrophysicist
astronomer
physicist
Dale A. Frail is a Canadian astronomer working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, New Mexico.
27. Vernon White
1959-. (aged 67)
police officer
politician
chief of police
Vernon Darryl White is a Canadian former senator and former chief of the Ottawa Police Service.
28. Freeman Patterson
1937-. (aged 89)
photographer
writer
Freeman Wilford Patterson CM ONB is a Canadian nature photographer and writer. He lives at Shamper's Bluff, New Brunswick. Patterson has authored several books on photographic techniques and theory, as well as on his nature photography.
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29. Jacob Gould Schurman
1854-1942 (aged 88)
politician
university teacher
writer
diplomat
university president
Jacob Gould Schurman was a Canadian-American educator and diplomat, who served as President of Cornell University and United States Ambassador to Germany.
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30. Andy Fillmore
1966-. (aged 60)
urban planner
politician
Andy Fillmore is a Canadian politician who has been the mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality since November 5, 2024. He previously served as a Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament for the riding of Halifax from 2015 until 2024.
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31. Lorie Kane
1964-. (aged 62)
golfer
Lorie Kane, CM is a Canadian professional golfer on the LPGA Tour. She began her career on the LPGA Tour in 1996 and has four career victories and 99 top-10 finishes on the tour. She won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award in 2000 and became a member of the Order of Canada at a ceremony in December 2006. Kane was the...
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32. Gudie Hutchings
1959-. (aged 67)
businessperson
politician
Gudrid Ida "Gudie" Hutchings PC is a Canadian politician who represented Long Range Mountains in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, Hutchings served as Minister of Rural Economic Development from 2021 to 2025 and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency from 2023 to 2025.
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33. Alexandra Fuller
1969-. (aged 57)
journalist
writer
Alexandra Fuller is a British-Zimbabwean author. Her articles and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Granta, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Financial Times.
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34. David H. Levy
1948-. (aged 78)
astronomer
David Howard Levy (born May 22, 1948) is a Canadian amateur astronomer, science writer and discoverer of comets and minor planets, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1993, which collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994.
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35. Charles Brenton Huggins
1901-1997 (aged 96)
university teacher
surgeon
physiologist
oncologist
physician
Charles Brenton Huggins was a Canadian-American surgeon and physiologist known for his work on prostate function, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Born in Halifax in 1901, Huggins moved to the United States for medical school. He was one of the founding staff members of the University of Chicago Medical School, where he remained for the duration of his professional research...
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36. Ron James
1958-. (aged 68)
television actor
film actor
Ron James is a Canadian stand-up comedian, author, and voice actor.
37. Heather Rankin
1967-. (aged 59)
singer
actor
songwriter
Heather Elaine Rankin OC is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actor. She is best known as a member of the multi-platinum selling musical group The Rankin Family.
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38. Joanne Kelly
1978-. (aged 48)
actor
Joanne M. Kelly is a Canadian actress, known for her appearances in films such as Going the Distance, and in the TV series Warehouse 13 as the character Myka Bering, a Secret Service agent.
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39. Peter MacKay
1965-. (aged 61)
politician
lawyer
diplomat
rugby union player
Crown attorney
Peter Gordon MacKay PC KC is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who served as Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007–2013), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006–2007) in the Cabinet of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. MacKay became the final leader of the Progressive Conservative...
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40. Michael Clarke
1946-1993 (aged 47)
drummer
Michael Clarke was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group the Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.
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41. Kennedy Stewart
1966-. (aged 60)
community organizer
policy advisor
university teacher
columnist
clerk
Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart is a Canadian academic administrator and politician who served as the 40th mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022. He previously was the member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby—Douglas (2011–2015) and Burnaby South (2015–2018), serving in the House of Commons as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus.
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42. Charles Aubrey Eaton
1868-1953 (aged 85)
politician
pastor
Charles Aubrey Eaton was a Canadian-born American Baptist clergyman, journalist, and Republican politician who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1925 to 1953. His district, which centered on Somerset County, was numbered as the 4th district from 1925 to 1933 and the 5th district from 1933 to 1953. He was a leading voice in the...
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43. Roger Tomlinson
1933-2014 (aged 81)
geographer
Roger Frank Tomlinson OC FRCGS was an English-Canadian geographer and the primary originator of modern geographic information systems (GIS), and has been acknowledged as the "father of GIS."
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