Alexander Charles McKay
1861–1945

Born and educated in Ontario, A.C. McKay was the University’s fourth Chancellor. An honours graduate and gold medalist in physics at the University of Toronto (1885), he later lectured there to medical students. Previously he taught mathematics in public and private schools and at Upper Canada College. In 1890 McKay was appointed Registrar and Professor of Mathematics and Physics at McMaster. In 1903 he was named the first Dean in Arts (later styled Dean of Arts), and was appointed Chancellor in 1905. When Chancellor, McKay established a programme leading to the BSc degree and was instrumental in obtaining a Rockefeller grant to construct as science building. He led the fight against plans to have McMaster federate with the University of Toronto. In 1911 McKay resigned the chancellorship to assume the principalship of the Toronto School of Technology, as he strongly believed in the need to improve the training of technicians for the complex new industries burgeoning in the country.