Jeremy N. McNeil was born in 1944 in Tonbridge, Kent, England but soon moved to Canada until the age of 10 when he started boarding school in England. He went back to Canada to attend university. He received his Hon. Bsc in Zoology at The University of Western Ontario and his PhD in Entomology/Ecology at North Carolina State University in the USA. Having previously worked at Laval University, in 2004 he was named the Helen Battle Professor of Chemical Ecology in the Biology Department at the University of Western Ontario and, in 2014, received the Distinguished University Professor Award for his contributions to Western.
He really loved teaching and research. As a teacher, he was passionate in helping students and graduates succeed to establish themselves in their chosen careers having trained more than 50 graduate students.
As a scientist, his main research interest was to understand the reproductive strategies of insects that migrate in response to either predictable or unpredictable habitat change using physiological and molecular approaches to understand the mechanisms controlling the reproductive biology in species where mate location and mate choice are modulated by sex pheromones. He was also interested in different aspects of plant-insect and host-parasitoid interactions that involve chemical cues. He was recognised internationally as an eminent scientist having published more than 200 scientific papers. He received countless recognitions: among many others, he was elected President of the Royal Society of Canada, received the 2020 Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research, the Gold Medal from the Entomological Society of Canada, the Fry Medal of the Canadian Society of Zoologist, the Silver Medal of the International Society of Chemical Ecology and the Delwart Prize in Chemical Ecology (Belgium), the Humboldt Research Fellowship in Germany, and the Order of Canada for his services to education. He was a Corresponding Member of both the Guatemalan and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. For over 30 years he has been engaged, both at home and abroad, in activities relating to the public awareness of science and has received several national awards for his outreach activities. In 2014 he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his research and for his dedication to increasing public appreciation of science. In 2016 he was elected Co-Chair of the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS) having devoted many efforts towards promoting Science and Technology Capacity Building in the Americas and strengthening collaboration ties between Science Academies in the region.
Jeremy passed away on July 18, 2024. His advice to others was: Do not rush into things! Be sure it is something you are really passionate about, as this makes the good times wonderful and certainly helps one get through the tougher times. He will be truly missed by colleagues, friends and family.
