George Paul McNicol (24 September 1929 – 28 July 2014) was a Scottish physician, academic and university academic. He was the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

from 1981 to 1991.

Early life

He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and studied at the local

Hillhead High School Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. Admissions It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow. History Grammar school Until 1972 it was a co-educational selectiv ...

and medicine at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Career

McNicol worked as a surgeon and physician before returning to academia via a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several co ...

at the Washington University, St Louis in America. He then gained a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1965. His early academic career was at the University of Glasgow and he spent a secondment at Mekerere University College Medical School, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. He returned to the UK and was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. He left Leeds to take up his next appointment as the Principal of the University of Aberdeen in 1981. He was awarded a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

Personal life

In 1959, he married Susan Moira Ritchie. They had three children and four grandchildren.

References

External links

''Royal College of Physicians'' Obituary 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNicol, George Paul 1929 births 2014 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow People educated at Hillhead High School Principals of the University of Aberdeen Harkness Fellows Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire