Patrick Deane

Patrick Deane (born 9 December 1956) is a Canadian scholar and university administrator, currently serving as the 21st Principal of Queen's University. He was previously the acting president of the University of Winnipeg (2003–2004), the Vice-principal (Academic) at Queen's University (2005–2010) and the 7th President of McMaster University (2010–2019).

Early life and education Deane was born in 1956 in South Africa. His father, whose ancestors emigrated from Liverpool to South Africa in the 1820s, joined the British Royal Navy during World War II. After the war, Deane's mother met his father in Canada, when he went there on a business trip; they got married in 1947. When Deane was 15, his elder brother, who was 5 years his senior and was on conscription service, died of testicular cancer, after being misdiagnosed and denied treatment by a civilian doctor. He graduated in 1978 and moved to Canada, to study English literature at the University of Western Ontario, obtaining a Master of Arts in 1980 and a PhD in 1985.

Career Deane's professional career began in 1986, when he was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, teaching English literature. He was invited back to the University of Western Ontario in 1988, when he was awarded the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature, becoming an assistant professor in the Department of English and teaching 21-century British literature, he became the Acting President and Vice-Chancellor in 2003. During this period, Deane oversaw the elimination of the university's accumulated debt, the first surplus budget in a decade, and the creation of the University of Winnipeg Foundation, a new fundraising arm for the university. Deane handed over the presidency to Lloyd Axworthy in 2004, returning to the role of Vice-President (Academic) and taking the newly established position of Provost. Deane formally stepped down as McMaster's president on 30 June 2019, having served nearly 2 full terms in that capacity. He assumed the new role as the following day, on 1 July 2019. They have a daughter, Petra, and a son, Colin, 100th Convocation Award, University of Winnipeg (2013)