Edith “Edie” Graef McGeer was the wife of Patrick Lucey McGeer, OC, OBC, FRSC, a Canadian physician, professor and medical researcher.
There are no details on when they got married. However, they were married for years and researched into Alzheimer’s disease together.
McGeer and Edith were awarded/honored for their research into Alzheimer’s disease;
- In 1995, they were inducted as Officers of the Order of Canada.
- In 2002 they were jointly inducted as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, and
- In 2005 they were jointly inducted into the Order of British Columbia.
Sadly, McGeer died at his home in Vancouver on August 29, 2022 at the age of 95.
McGeer was regarded as a leading authority on the causes and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and was the principal author of the inflammatory hypothesis of the disease, which postulated that Alzheimer’s is an inflammation of the cortex.
McGeer was regarded as a leading authority on the causes and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and was the principal author of the inflammatory hypothesis of the disease, which postulated that Alzheimer’s is an inflammation of the cortex.
McGeer was a perfect “master of all trades”. He was;
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- A basketball player who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics,
- A politician who represented the constituency of Vancouver-Point Grey in the British Columbia legislature from 1962 to 1986, and
- A member of the British Columbia cabinet from 1976 to 1986.
It was after he left politics in 1986, that he focused on science, spending decades researching Alzheimer’s disease alongside his wife, Edith.