29 Amazing People You Probably Didn't Know Are Queen’s Alumni

Queen’s University alumni have done amazing things, from creating the Canadian flag, to winning Emmy Awards for producing Breaking Bad, and starting the online payment service Pay Pal. With 144,930 Queen’s alumni living in 154 countries, it is hard to keep track of all the impressive graduates. This list will help solve that problem – here are 29 amazing people you probably didn’t know are Queen’s alumni.

1. Judge John Matheson, Arts’40, LLD’80

Via queensu.ca

He is considered the father of the Canadian flag. As a Member of Parliament, Prime Minister Lester Pearson asked John to guide a Commons committee to pick a new flag. John lobbied for the red-and-white maple leaf design. Pearson later told Time magazine that John was "the man who had more to do with [the flag] than any other."

2. Michelle MacLaren, Artsci’86

Helen Sloan / HBO / Via queensu.ca

The executive producer of TV’s Breaking Bad is a two-time Emmy Award winner. Michelle is also one of TV’s foremost directors who has worked on many popular shows, such as Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and The X-Files.

3. Drew Feustel, PhD’95

Via queensu.ca

The Geological Sciences graduate has flown on two Space Shuttle missions. In 2009, he helped repair the Hubble Telescope. In 2011, he proudly wore his Queen’s T-shirt while at the International Space Station.

4. Kathleen Wynne, Artsci’77

Queen's Archives/Queen's University / Via queensu.ca

Before she ran for the job as Ontario’s Premier, Kathleen ran for Queen’s as the co-captain of the Gaels track team. “During the years when you’re trying to find your legs and figure out what you’re going to do with your life, it’s important to have a group that’s inclusive. I found that on the Queen’s track team,” she told the Alumni Review in 2013.

5. Ashleigh Banfield, Artsci’88

Via ca.complex.com

The alumna is the host of CNN’s Legal View. One of her greatest interviews happened when she played herself in an episode of Netflix’s House of Cards. In a key scene, Claire Underwood (played by Robin Right) reveals during a live TV interview that she is a rape victim.

6. Rose Boyko, Artsci’77, Law’80, LLD’97

Rose was the first Aboriginal woman appointed as a Superior Court judge in Canada and spent two years as a judge on the United Nations Appeals Tribunal. She won a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1999 and in 2012 was given a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.

7. Hurley Smith, BSc’33

Via americanscientist.org

This electrical engineering grad invented the pocket protector. Nerds around the world thank you Hurley.

8. Michele Romanow, Sc’07, MBA’08

CBC

Michele’s entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well when she was at Queen’s. She is one of the founders of the Tea Room in Beamish-Munro Hall and received an Agnes Benidickson Tricolour Award. By the time she was 29, Michele had started four tech companies, including Buytopoia.ca and SnapSaves. Next season, she is bringing her entrepreneurial spirit to the popular CBC TV Show Dragon’s Den.

9. Prince Charles, LLD’91

Queen's Archives / Via archives.queensu.ca

OK … the future King of England never went to classes in Mac-Corry or pulled an all-nighter in Stauffer Library. But he was given an honorary degree from Queen’s in 1991, so technically he is eligible for the free one-year alumni membership to The University Club.

10. Prince Takamado, Law’81

Queen's University

Unlike Prince Charles, this royal family member actually did attend Queen’s. The Japanese prince studied on campus from 1978 to 1981. He passed away unexpectedly in 2002. A yoshino cherry tree, planted by Princess Takamado in honour of the prince, stands beside Benidickson House.

11. Christine Whitecross, Sc’84

The chemical engineering grad joined the military while at Queen’s and has risen to the rank of Major General. In 2011, she was named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women. In March, Maj.-Gen. Whitecross was named the head of a high profile inquiry into sexual harassment in the military.

12. Helen Ryan, MD 1885

Helen was part of the second Queen's medical class that allowed women and she became the first female member of the Canadian Medical Association.

13. Shelagh Rogers, Artsci’78

CBC

The veteran CBC Radio broadcaster has hosted shows such as This Morning, Sounds Like Canada, and The Next Chapter. But she began her broadcast career at Queen’s on CFRC.

14. Yolande James, Law’03

In 2004 at the age of 27, Yolande became the youngest and first black cabinet minister in Quebec history. While she is no longer an MNA, she told the Alumni Review in 2013 that she has no desires to run for party leadership because her family life takes precedence.

15. Shirley Tilghman, Arts’68

The Makers / Via makers.com

She was the 19th – and first female – president of Princeton University, serving from 2001 to 2013. The Queen's chemistry grad currently sits on Google’s Board of Directors. She told TheMakers.com that in college she read a paper on how DNA replicates and “I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’ve read in my whole life. The next day I went over to the bio chemistry department and said ‘How can I get in?’”

16. Jim Cuddy, Artsci’83

Via jimcuddy.com

The Blue Rodeo musician has many fond memories of Queen's, including meeting his wife. Their first date was at Morrison's restaurant, according to Lithium magazine. Blue Rodeo has released 13 full-length albums and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2012. In June of 2014, he received an honorary degree from his alma mater.

17. Stefanie Reid, Artsci’06

Via hipandhealthy.com

The biochemistry grad lost her right foot in a boating accident at 16. Today she is a decorated Paralympian, winning long jump silver at the 2012 London Paralympic Games and a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. Expect her to be on the podium again in Rio in 2016.

18. Julie Stewart-Binks, Artsci/PHE’09

Via queensu.ca

Julie got her start covering the Gaels for the Queen’s Journal and QTV. Today she covers sports as an anchor/reporter with FOX Sports 1 (FOX TV’s version of ESPN). Julie credits a hard-work ethic – something she learned at Queen’s – for helping her land a job on a national U.S. network. “I remember staying in Stauffer Library all night to get a million assignments done. So I know how to work hard and that transferred well to my career,” she told the Alumni Review in 2014.

19. Evanka Osmak, Sc’02

The Sportsnet anchor/civil engineering grad told Chatelaine magazine that one of her proudest moments was “leaving a safe engineering gig to follow my dreams in the world of broadcasting.”

20. Brigette Berman, Arts’71, Ed’72

Via hughhefnerplayboyactivistrebel.com

She won an Academy Award for her 1985 documentary Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got, about the big-band-era musician. Brigette returned to campus in 2011 to talk to students about her documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.

21. Michael Ondaatje, MA’67

The acclaimed author’s 1992 book The English Patient won the Booker Prize and was turned into an Oscar-winning film of the same name. He has won the Governor General’s Literary Award five times.

22. Anna Olson, Artsci’91

Food Network Canada

Celebrity Chef and Food Network Canada host Anna Olson was working at a bank after graduation. She told the Queen's Journal she had what she called her “muffin epiphany” while baking at 2 a.m. and decided to follow her dream of becoming a chef. Her favourite restaurants while attending Queen’s were Chez Piggy and the now-closed Chinese Laundry Café on Princess Street.

23. Lorne Greene, Arts 1937, LLD’71

1937 Tricolour Yearbook / ABC

The legendary actor, who played Ben Cartwright on the TV Western Bonanza and Commander Adama on the original Battlestar Galactica, started his broadcast career as an announcer at CFRC.

24. Elon Musk, Com’94, and Kimbal Musk, Com’95

Space X / Via queensu.ca

Elon and Kimbal both helped turn PayPal into a tech giant that was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion. Elon is now busy running Tesla Motors and Space X, while Kimbal has opened a series of restaurants, including The Kitchen Community, a non-profit group that promotes healthy eating to children. Elon met his first wife – ­Justine (Wilson) Musk, Artsci’96 – at Queen’s. The couple was together from 2000-2008 and they had five sons together.

25. Alexander Graham Bell, LLD 1909, Nelson Mandela LLD’10, and former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, LLD’12, and Franklin Roosevelt, LLD’38

Queen's University

OK, OK … like Prince Charles, these historical legends received honorary degrees. Sadly, they probably never sang the Oil Thigh.