D. Lorne McGibbon

Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts

Born: November 24, 1870 in Montreal, Quebec

Died: April 20, 1927

Married: Ethylwin Waldock of Woodstock, Ontario

Children:

Douglas Lorne McGibbon was a Canadian businessman who became the chief benefactor of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec and of tuberculosis treatment in Canada generally. In 1908 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and on February 19th was hospitalized in Saranac Lake under the care of Dr. Hugh Kinghorn. Deciding that there should be a sanatorium in Canada, he provided funds for another patient, Dr. J. Roddick Byers, from Sherbrooke, to buy 200 acres north of Ste. Agathe upon which to build one. He subsequently created the Laurentian Society and, with help from Dr. Trudeau opened in 1908. In order to overcome reticence on the part of the town council of Ste. Agathe based on fear of contagion, McGibbon offered the town council a week-long trip to Saranac Lake to see for themselves how beneficial the San would be for the town; upon its return, the council consented. McGibbon hired Scopes and Feustmann to build the sanatorium on the large parcel of land they had secured. McGibbon contributed $50,000 of the first $72,800 needed, and $150,000 in total in the construction of the first hospital and with Dr. Kinghorn, covered the annual deficit for some years thereafter.

• D. Lorne McGibbon
  

• Lorne McGibbon appears in the ongoing Winter Carnival fable, Sara The Snowy Owl, Chapter IV: On the Iron Highway (2001)