Donald MacRae

“The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons
united in the ideal of service.”

The Fourth Object of Rotary initially composed by Donald MacRae.

He was born in the tiny village of Canoe Cove on Prince Edward Island on 13 June 1872 and died in 1957. After graduating from high school, he worked in a clothing store for seven years. In 1894, at the age of 22, he entered Dalhousie University on a scholarship, graduating four years later with high honours in classics and the University Medal. He next spent six years at Cornell University, teaching Greek and earning an A.M. degree in 1899 and a PhD in 1905. Between 1905 and 1909 he lectured in Greek at Princeton University. In 1909 he returned to Canada to study law at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, graduating in 1912 and being called to the bar in 1913. After practising law for one year in Toronto, he accepted an appointment as Dean of the Law School at Dalhousie University,

a position he held until 1924, when he returned to Osgoode Hall as a full-time lecturer.

He retired in 1944