Masson, Georges, 1911-2011

Georges Marie Charles Masson was born Dieulouard, France in 1911 and spent his childhood near Nancy, France. Masson completed a veterinary degree and served with the French cavalry, before relocating to Montreal, Canada in 1935. At the age of twenty-four, he began teaching biology at Ecole Vétérinaire d'Oka, Agricultural Institute of Oka from 1935-38 (which later became Laval University Faculty of Agriculture). He continued his studies and received a License in Science from l'Université de Montréal in 1937. While attending a conference, Masson met McGill University lecturer Dr. Hans Selye and later began lab work for Selye. Inspired by Selye's endocrinology research, Masson pursued a PhD in experimental medicine. Upon graduation in 1942, Masson continued to work as a researcher at McGill's Department of Histology until accepting a job in 1948 at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, where he furthered his research on renal hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Georges Masson met his wife, Helen Louise Masson, in 1937 while crossing the Atlantic on the famed liner Normandie en route to visiting family in France. They married a year later and had two children, Richard and Paul. Upon retirement in 1973, Masson and his wife relocated to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario where he lived for the remainder of his life, a dedicated gardener and writer. To mark his gratitude to McGill, Georges established the Georges, Paul, and Robert Masson Scholarship Fund in 2002, awarded each year to science students at McGill University. In 2011, Georges Masson died of natural causes, aged 99