Dr. Gerald McKenzie’s Obituary
Dr. Gerald McKenzie, “Gerry”
Gerald Malcolm McKenzie BSc, MSc, PhD, Capt. (Canadian Army, Retd.)
1936-2022
Born in New Glasgow (1936) the son of the late Elta (Langille) and Malcolm McKenzie. Survived by his
wife Beverley (Bertrand), sons (Malcolm) Grant, David, Daniel, and daughters Gail, Renee, grandchildren
Matthew, Julie, Janice, Alex, Erika, Jason, Emily, Hannah, great grandchildren Mateo, Roman, sister
Jacqueline (UK), and brother Orland (USA). Predeceased by sister Lynda (UK).
Born a Farmer
Once a Soldier
Thence a Scholar
A Dedicated Teacher
Wonderful Husband
Loving Father
A Humorous Fellow
Fun to Live With
A Generous Man
My Husband
Our Dad
Our Grampy
Orphaned at the age of eighteen months and raised by his widowed grand mother and her family of nine
on the farm in Malagash, he learned at a very early age the value of hard work and he and his uncle Bill
were the last of the horse-powered famers in Malagash. A graduate of Tatamagouche High School,
where he received numerous awards both academic and athletic including the highest award given by
the school at the time, the Birks Medal for academic achievement.
On the heels of the great depression and the second world war money was scarce. Academic bursaries
and scholarships were small and few and far between. With $1000 from his Aunt Greta McKenzie and a
steady seven-nights-a-week job at a local restaurant, Gerald commenced his distinguished career. At
Acadia University he studied engineering and geology and then transferred to Assumption University,
Windsor, Ontario to graduate with a BSc in Chemistry. Following a seven-year career in the Canadian
Armed Forces, Gerald married his loving wife Beverley and returned to university to earn his MSc in
Pharmacology and PhD in Physiology at Dalhousie University.
Dr. McKenzie had a distinguished research career and is credited with the timely and critical discovery
that dopamine is released from nerve cells in the brain, and that L-Dopa increased the release of
dopamine. After receiving his doctorate degree, he joined Eaton Laboratories in Norwich, New York, to
help develop L-Dopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. L-Dopa is still the drug treatment of
choice for Parkinson’s. He then joined the Burroughs Wellcome Company, a nonprofit pharmaceutical
company, to direct research on the central nervous system at laboratories located in the Research
Triangle Park, Raleigh, North Carolina and Beckenham, Kent, England. While at Burroughs he introduced
the concept of direct-acting chemical agents which would directly stimulate dopamine receptors in the
brain and then discovered several drugs which held great promise as anti-Parkinson drugs. He is co author on several patents on these drugs. At Burroughs he helped develop Wellbutrin, a popular anti depressant drug, and was the youngest researcher in the history of the company to be promoted to Group Leader. He was subsequently recruited by Smith Kline and French Laboratories in Philadelphia, and an Associate Director of Pharmacology, he continued his pioneering research on drugs to treat
Parkinson’s and Schizophrenia (another disease involving dopamine), eventually resulting in the development of Ropinirole for the treatment of Parkinson’s.
His love of teaching drew him back to academia and in 1975 he joined the Faculty of Medicine at
Dalhousie University. A dedicated and innovative teacher who was often characterized by his students
as “tough but fair”, he will be remembered by thousands of students not only for his dedication but also
for his approachable and good-humored nature, attributes not often found in university faculty.
He held academic appointments at Columbia University, New York, and Duke University, Durham, North
Carolina, and was a member of the following scientific societies: Pharmacological Society of Canada,
American Pharmacology Society, American Chemical Society, New York Academy of Sciences, American
College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Founding Member and Life Member of the Canadian College of
Neuropsychopharmacology. He lectured widely in United States, Canada, South America, and Europe on
topics related to dopamine, Parkinson’s disease, and Schizophrenia, and was considered a world
authority on these subjects.
After leaving the pharmaceutical industry he continued to consult for several companies on scientific
matters involving drugs and the central nervous system, and to consult for the University of New
Brunswick and the New Brunswick Commission on Drug Dependency on issues relating to drug
dependance. In addition, he served on many National Committees at Health and Welfare, Ottawa,
Canada. Throughout his career he served as consulting pharmacologist for many individuals, companies,
organizations, and government departments in the Maritime provinces, Ontario and Maine, USA.
Gerald was an exceptional athlete excelling in basketball, baseball, soccer, track and field and hockey
and was a perennial winner of the “Athlete of the Year” award in high school. He played varsity soccer
and hockey at Acadia University, junior hockey with the Berwick Apple Kings and professional hockey in
the Ontario Hockey League. When reminiscing about his hockey days, he would muse that he never had
hockey gear before arriving at Acadia try-out camp. He was a goaltender, nevertheless, using magazines
for leg and breast protection and a baseball mitt to catch pucks. He never set foot on artificial ice or in a
hockey arena until he arrived at Acadia. While serving in the armed forces in Halifax he played for the
General Bakery in Halifax and District Fastball League and with the Tri-Service Hockey League. He was a
student of the martial arts studying Tae Kwon Do under Masters Carabins of Halifax and Lee of South
Korea. He loved downhill skiing and was an accomplished windsurfer, enjoying both sports until the age
of 75. At the age of 80, Gerald become the oldest Mud Hero in Canada, having conquered the 2016
Halifax Mud Hero event, placing first in the 70 and over category. His athletic prowess undoubtedly
contributed to his longevity.
Despite his busy schedule, Dr. McKenzie found time to be active in community affairs. He served as
councilor for the town of Bedford before moving onto the family farm in Malagash in 1980 where his
accomplishments are many. To list a few: formation of a community association; formation of a senior,
midget and junior baseball teams, formation of a midget and senior baseball leagues; built and
maintained a class baseball field; organized the community to buy the old salt mine site, fill-in the mine
shaft and thereby block the projected use of the mine as a hazardous waste dump, notably, radioactive
waste, and in this regard, in the words of his friends and colleague, the late Nobel laureate Dr. William
Boyle, “The people of Malagash will never fully appreciate what a very huge favor you have done for
them.”; led the fight through the Provincial Court to block the closure of the community school; single handily stopped the spraying of herbicides along highway ditches in Cumberland Country, a decision which quickly spread across the province; served free of charge as consulting pharmacologist for the
class-action led by Ms. Elizabeth May (leader of the federal Green Party) and the Mi’kmaw Community,
to cease aerial spraying of herbicides in Cape Breton and elsewhere; he gave of his time to lecture
community groups, government agencies and royal commissions on the health and environmental
hazards of the use of 2,4-D and 2,3,4-T and other pesticides.
Gerald never lost his love for the land and farming. He was a prolific gardener and grew most of his
fruits and vegetables. For many years he was a successful producer of ginseng, selling most of his
product in Jakarta under the name ‘First Plant’, and was the only known organic ginseng -grower in
North America.
Gerald was a gifted musician, a trait passed down from his mother and in turn passed on to his children.
His music career began at home in the evenings sitting beside the old wood stove playing guitar and
singing with his uncle Bill. At Acadia University he played mandolin with a group of engineering students
on the local radio station in Kentville, N.S., later joining Urban and the Rodeo Boys and appearing on
Moncton Television with The Bunkhouse Boys and with Don Messer and his Islanders. To help finance
his education, he played mandolin and bass in the clubs and dancehalls in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit,
Michigan, and on several occasions jammed with the likes of singing great Red Folly and the great banjo
picker Lester Flatts. In North Carolina, USA, he played tenor banjo with the Capital City Five, a jazz band
led by the nationally renowned pianist, Thomas Shea, and specializing in the music of the work famous
composer Scot Joplin.
Returning to Nova Scotia, Gerald played bass for the Halifax bluegrass band Seldom Scene and then
moved to Malagash where he played violin with several local bands and eventually in his own band,
Home Grown Country. He and his young family of five (by then trained and accomplished musicians)
performed free of charge and at their own expense throughout northern and central Nova Scotia.
Known as ‘Gerry and the Kids’, they opened the first ever River John Days, performed many concerts to
raise funds for community projects, entertained seniors homes, provided entertainment for school
graduation ceremonies, played for community New Year’s celebrations, appeared on Atlantic TV musical
shows and the children became the center-piece for the Neighborhood Kids, a thirty member concert
band directed by Mr. Harry Jackson, the Jackson School of Music, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He tutored many high school and community college students free of charge and was often approached
by residents of Cumberland Country for advice and help on numerous topics and personal problems.
He twice refused to let his name be submitted of the Order of Nova Scotia as local residents tried to
show their appreciation.
He loved his children and grandchildren.
He loved his wife of 60 years.
His life made a difference.
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2022
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Dr Gerald Malcolm McKenzie 2022..
Décès pour la Ville: Tatamagouche, Province: Nova Scotia