Mel Goodes, BCom’57, LLD’94, is one of Queen’s most generous benefactors. Mel was the first in his family to graduate from high school and leave Hamilton, Ontario. In addition to attending Queen’s University, he earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. Mel’s successful business career culminated with his position as Chairman and CEO of Warner-Lambert Company. While there, he was instrumental in introducing Lipitor, used to lower cholesterol, which has since become the best-selling pharmaceutical drug in the world, prolonging the lives of many.
Goodes Hall, home to Queen’s School of Business (QSB), was made possible by a $10 million lead gift by Mel and his wife Nancy and is named after Mel’s parents Mary and Cedric Goodes. When QSB started to outgrow the building, Mel and Nancy made a further donation under the Initiative Campaign of $5 million to expand the building, which was completed in 2012. In addition, Mel established the Monieson Centre at Queen’s School of Business in recognition of his mentor Professor Dan Monieson, and created a scholarship for students from his high School to attend Queen’s University.
In 2010 Mel was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and is now working with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to discover and launch a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. He and Nancy actively promote awareness of the disease. Mel says, “I almost certainly will not beat Alzheimer’s, but I am going to do all that I can to make sure it eventually gets beaten.”
Queen’s is very proud to call Mel one of its own. The world is a better place because of Mel’s initiative and selfless generosity.
