Margaret Anne Ganley was born in 1942 in Australia. Her father was George P. Ganley and her mother Gertrude Rowe Ganley. She married Peter Somerville in 1966. She graduated from the University of Adelaide in Pharmacy and the University of Sydney in Law. She continued her education in Canada where she received her PhD in Civil Law from McGill University in 1978. She joined McGill’s Faculty of Law as an assistant professor in 1978, became an associate professor in 1979 and was named as the Samuel Gale Professor of Law in 1989. Concurrently, she held appointments in the Faculty of Medicine as an associate professor in 1980 and as a full professor from 1984. In 1986 she became the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law.

David Nathan Solomon was born in 1917 and died in 1981. He obtained his B.A. in 1939 and M.A. in 1942 in sociology from McGill University and later received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1952. He joined the staff of McGill University and was Assistant Professor of sociology and anthropology from 1955 to 1960, becoming Associate Professor in 1961. He also served as Chairman of the Department of Sociology from 1971 to 1975.