Born in Dresden, Germany, Horst Oertel immigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen. In 1894 he earned his M.D. from Yale University, and continued with postgraduate studies in pathology at the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig and Wurzburg until 1898. On his return to the United States, he was appointed director of the Russell Institute of Pathology in New York. He later undertook a period of study at Guy's Hospital, London. Oertel came to McGill in 1914 and retired as Emeritus Professor of pathology in 1938. Oertel passed away in 1956.

James O’Donnell was born in 1774 in Wexford County, Ireland. He was a noted Irish-American architect in New York City and Montreal. He studied architecture in several European cities, including Dublin. In 1812, O'Donnell moved to the United States and took up residence in New York City, where he successfully practised as an architect and designed several famous buildings, such as the Bloomingdale Asylum (1818-1821), the Fulton Street Market (1821-1822) and Christ Church (1822-1823). In 1817, he was elected to the American Academy of the Fine Arts in New York. In 1823, O’Donnell moved to Montreal to build the Notre-Dame Basilica, which was inaugurated on July 15, 1829. He died on January 28, 1830, in Montreal, Quebec.