Council here supports a request from Wellington County councillor Mark MacKenzie to endorse an application to the Ontario Heritage Trust local marker program for a proposed plaque for Dr. John Gerald Fitzgerald, formerly of 88 John Street in Harriston.
MacKenzie submitted a letter about the program and related information. There is a commitment for funding and maintenance from the company sanofi-pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, formerly Connaught Laboratories, a company created by Fitzgerald.
The application has a letter of support of the current owners of the home at 88 John Street.
The report to council stated that Dr. John Gerald Fitzgerald (1882-1940); also known as Canada’s Public Health Visionary, was born in Drayton.
In 1891, his family moved to Harriston, where his father, an apothecary, opened a drug store at 23 Elora Street.
The Fitzgerald family owned 88 John Street South from 1894 to 1902, before moving to 163 John Street.
At 16, Fitzgerald left to attend the University of Toronto medical school, graduating in 1903 as the youngest of his class.
While he began a career in psychiatry and neuropathology, the successes of scientists such as Louis Pasteur fuelled a keen interest in bacteriology and the possibilities of preventative medicine.
His studies at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and Brussels in 1910 shaped his public health vision for Canada.
Appalled by unchecked epidemics plaguing his homeland, he returned to Canada determined to build public health policy based on research, education and production of universally available biomedical products. In 1914, he founded the Connaught Laboratories in partnership with the University of Toronto.
With its mass production of insulin, discovered by Banting and Best at the University of Toronto in 1922, Connaught Labs earned an international reputation.
Dr. FitzGerald was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2004.
Sanofi pasteur has offered to pay for the plaque, subject to the provision of an estimate which is dependent upon the final text from the Ontario Heritage Trust.
The trust would provide funds for maintenance after installation.
Mayor David Anderson said the background material provided by MacKenzie was impressive.
As the item reached council, MacKenzie said he was approached by the grandson of Dr. Fitzgerald to recognize where he lived, and his life through a heritage plaque in Harriston.
“I’d appreciate council consider endorsing this.”
He added that he had approached Minto’s heritage group, but they did not appear interested in sponsoring an application at this time.
“I need a sponsor to do this,” MacKenzie said.
He anticipated a ceremony later this summer with representatives of sanofi-pasteur.
Councillor Tammy Reiner was curious why it was not endorsed by Minto Heritage.
MacKenzie said that group just said it was not interested at this time.
He believes the project is something that should be done, and he appreciated council’s endorsement.
