It is with deep sorrow that we mark the passing of Dr. David Strangway, the founder and first President of Quest University Canada. Our current President, Dr. Peter Englert, would like to express his condolences on behalf of the entire University community to David’s wife, Alice, and their three grown children. We are all grateful for Dr. Strangway’s long-standing, dedicated service to both our institution and Canadian higher education. The success of Quest University Canada’s unique educational model and every Quest student’s path of intellectual discovery are a direct result of Dr. Strangway’s visionary ideas.
Dr. David Strangway’s roster of professional achievements is truly inspirational. He acted as a participant in the Apollo 17 lunar mission while he was Chief of Geophysics for NASA in the 1970s. He served as the President of UBC for more than a decade, and in 2007, he was the Founding Chancellor, President, and visionary of Quest University Canada, the first private, secular, non-profit, liberal arts & sciences institution in Canada. From 1998 to 2004, Dr. Strangway served as the president of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), where he distributed 2.7 billion of a 3.5 billion dollar budget to halt the erosion of Canada’s research capacity. His legacy as an extraordinary leader and visionary in the fields of research and education persists to this day. Dr. Strangway has received honours that include officer of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, foreign Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, recipient of the Queen’s Silver, Gold, and Diamond Jubilee medals, and the NASA medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement.
Quest University Canada President, Peter Englert, has issued a personal statement regarding Dr. Strangway’s legacy for the University. The Board of Governors has issued a resolution in honor of our Founder, and academic, business and community leaders have sent Testimonials attesting to his remarkable accomplishments. We would like to thank Dr. David Strangway for sharing his quest with the staff, faculty, and most importantly the students of Quest University Canada.
“My Quest may be even loftier than cracking the mysteries of the moon’s crust: To augment the Canadian landscape with a university that offers students and those who work with them, the opportunity to pursue personal quests that reverberate in wonderful ways all over this big blue planet.”
–Dr. David Strangway