{{Short description|Canadian priest and educator (1935–2017)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=May 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Greg MacLeod | image = Greg MacLeod.jpg | caption = | alt = Photo of Greg MacLeod | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year|1935}} | birth_place = Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, Canada | death_date = {{death date and given age|2017|5|3|81|df=yes}} | death_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Priest|professor}} | awards = Order of Canada | known_for = }}
'''Greg MacLeod''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (1935{{spnd}}3 May 2017) was a Canadian priest and educator from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Born in Sydney Mines in 1935, MacLeod attended the Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax and was ordained as a priest in 1961. In 1974 he become a professor of philosophy at the College of Cape Breton where he was involved in community organizations focused on economic and social development. He was a member of the Order of Canada. An account and analysis of MacLeod's life and community efforts was published in two books in 2019.
==Life== MacLeod was born to a family of nine in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia in 1935. His father worked in a coal mine, and died when MacLeod was seven years old. As a child he sold newspapers to provide income for his family.{{sfn|Keshen|2009}}
MacLeod was educated at Xavier Junior College in Sydney.{{sfnmp|Mortimer|2017|PNI Atlantic News|2017b}} He studied there for two years before moving to mainland Nova Scotia to complete his studies. Following his graduation, MacLeod attended the Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax, and was subsequently ordained as a priest in 1961.{{sfnmp|Higgins|2021}} He earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Louvain in Belgium, followed by post-doctoral studies at Oxford University.{{sfn|Diocese of Antigonish|2017}}
MacLeod became a professor of philosophy at the College of Cape Breton (later Cape Breton University) in 1974, where he founded the Tompkins Institute for Human Values and Technology.{{sfnmp|Mortimer|2017|PNI Atlantic News|2017b|Cape Breton University}}
Through his work with the Tompkins Institute at Cape Breton University, MacLeod was the founder of two community organizations focused on driving economic development, namely New Dawn Enterprises and Banking Community Assets Group. He was known to donate part of his salary to the Beaton Institute and other causes.{{sfnmp|Mortimer|2017|PNI Atlantic News|2017a}}
In 2016, ''CTV News'' erroneously reported that MacLeod was a distant relative of Donald Trump.{{Sfn|CTV News|2016}} They later retracted the story after discovering it was an April Fools' Day prank.{{Sfn|CTV News|2016}}
MacLeod was a member of the Order of Canada.{{sfnmp|Mortimer|2017|PNI Atlantic News|2017a}} He died at the age of 81 on 3 May 2017. He was remembered by Chief Terry Paul of Membertou First Nation as "a very instrumental person for Cape Breton."{{sfnmp|Mortimer|2017|PNI Atlantic News|2017a|Nock|2017}}
==Legacy== In 2019, an account of MacLeod's life and community efforts written by Daniel Doucet was released, titled ''Father Greg: A Life''. A second book by Harvey Johnstone titled ''Boundary Exploration: The Entrepreneurial Experiments of Fr. Greg MacLeod'' was published the same year and provides insight on the cultural and economic impact of MacLeod's work.{{sfn|Patterson|2019}}
==See also== {{Portal|Canada|Nova Scotia|Christianity}} * Antigonish Movement
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite news |last=Mortimer |first=George |date=3 May 2017 |title=Popular Cape Breton priest, Father Greg MacLeod, dies at 81 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cape-breton-priest-father-greg-macleod-dies-1.4098098 |work=CBC News |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507201842/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cape-breton-priest-father-greg-macleod-dies-1.4098098 |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite news |date=2 May 2017 |title=Father Greg MacLeod dead at 81 |url=https://www.saltwire.com/cape-breton/father-greg-macleod-dead-at-81-14795 |work=PNI Atlantic News |publisher=Postmedia Network |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507201903/https://www.saltwire.com/cape-breton/father-greg-macleod-dead-at-81-14795 |archive-date=7 May 2025 |ref={{sfnref|PNI Atlantic News|2017a}}}} * {{cite news |date=15 June 2017 |title=A tribute to a Cape Breton icon |url=https://www.saltwire.com/cape-breton/a-tribute-to-a-cape-breton-icon-21537 |work=PNI Atlantic News |publisher=Postmedia Network |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507202047/https://www.saltwire.com/cape-breton/a-tribute-to-a-cape-breton-icon-21537 |archive-date=7 May 2025 |ref={{sfnref|PNI Atlantic News|2017b}}}} * {{cite web |last=Keshen |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Keshen |date=2009 |title=Interview: Greg MacLeod |url=https://cbucommons.ca/rkeshen/interview-greg-macleod/ |website=CBU Commons |publisher=Cape Breton University |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507201927/https://cbucommons.ca/rkeshen/interview-greg-macleod/ |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=The Ideas Man: Greg MacLeod |url=https://cbup.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Greg-MacLeod-Ideas-Man.pdf |website= |location= |publisher=Cape Breton University |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208091953/http://cbup.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Greg-MacLeod-Ideas-Man.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2024 |ref={{sfnref|Cape Breton University}}}} * {{cite news |date=1 April 2016 |title=Cape Breton professor shocked to learn he's related to Trump |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/cape-breton-professor-shocked-to-learn-hes-related-to-trump/ |work=CTV News |location= |publisher= |access-date=7 May 2025 |ref={{Sfnref|CTV News|2016}} |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507202157/https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/cape-breton-professor-shocked-to-learn-hes-related-to-trump/ |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Nock |first=Bobby |date=15 May 2017 |title=Funeral for Father Greg MacLeod, Today |url=https://coastalradio.ca/funeral-for-father-greg-macleod-today/ |work=CKOA-FM |location= |publisher= |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507202204/https://coastalradio.ca/funeral-for-father-greg-macleod-today/ |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite magazine |last=Higgins |first=Michael W. |author-link=Michael W. Higgins |date=16 May 2021 |title=Antigonish Activist: The pragmatic idealism of Fr. Gregory MacLeod |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/antigonish-activist |magazine=Commonweal |location=New York |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250216133034/https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/antigonish-activist |archive-date=16 February 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Patterson |first=Elizabeth |date=3 December 2019 |title=Book examines Father Greg's community development work |url=https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/book-examines-father-gregs-community-development-work-383753 |work=The Chronicle Herald |location=Sydney, NS |publisher=SaltWire Network |access-date=7 May 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507211809/https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/book-examines-father-gregs-community-development-work-383753 |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite web|accessdate=12 May 2025 |url=https://www.antigonishdiocese.com/ministries/father-gregory-jerome-macleod/ |title=Father Gregory Jerome MacLeod|publisher= Diocese of Antigonish |date= 3 May 2017|ref={{sfnref|Diocese of Antigonish|2017}}}} {{refend}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Doucet |first=Daniel |date=2019 |title=Father Greg – A Life |publisher=Breton Books |isbn=978-1-9269-0873-1}} * {{cite journal |last1=Mason |first1=Colin |date=14 September 2022 |title=The role of community entrepreneurs in depleted communities: A case study of Father Greg MacLeod's 'action research' in Cape Breton |journal=Local Economy |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages= 317–327|doi=10.1177/02690942221125148|doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal |last1=Johnstone |first1=Harvey |date=2020 |title=Building on the CED Legacy of Fr. Greg MacLeod |url=https://www.smu.ca/webfiles/10.36830-IJCAM.20201Johnstone-CBU.pdf |journal=International Journal of Co-operative Accounting and Management |volume=3 |issue=1 |publisher=Saint Mary's University |doi=10.36830/IJCAM.20201 |doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250507211052/https://www.smu.ca/webfiles/10.36830-IJCAM.20201Johnstone-CBU.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2025}} * {{cite journal |last1=Lionais |first1=Doug |date=June 2015 |title=Social Enterprise in Atlantic Canada |journal=Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research |volume=6 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315955297 |pages= |doi=10.22230/cjnser.2015v6n1a200 |via=ResearchGate|doi-access=free }}
==External links== {{Archival records | title = Dr. Greg MacLeod fonds | location = Beaton Institute | inventory_number = MG 11.44 | description_URL = https://beatoninstitute.com/dr-greg-macleod-fonds }} * {{Wikidata-inline|qid=Q97066265}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:MacLeod, Greg}}
Category:1935 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Canadian religion academics Category:20th-century Canadian Christian clergy Category:21st-century Canadian Christian clergy Category:Academic staff of Cape Breton University Category:People from Sydney, Nova Scotia Category:Businesspeople from Nova Scotia Category:20th-century Canadian educators Category:21st-century Canadian educators