Musings of a Native Son

About the Book

My story begins in Montreal on August 6, 1931, the day before my father died. I was not quite five years old, and I was the fourth of six siblings that my mother was left to raise—at the height of the so-called Great Depression. I trace and comment on my life struggles through public school, high school, and thence to my first university degree. Throughout, I faced the dual problem of going to school without having the mandatory fees. But I point out that I completed my education debt-free, never having applied for or received a student loan. I also reveal how I coped with the double-edged difficulty of being both black and ambitious, while persevering in a mostly unwelcoming white-dominated environment. Then I tell how I managed to overcome numerous obstacles, to obtain a doctorate (in organic chemistry), and eventually go on to become a pioneering Canadian-born black scientist and educator—more than forty years ago. Parenthetically, the pivotal breakthrough in my professional career took place at about the same time (1947) in the same city (Montreal), that Jackie Robinson was making his breakthrough into organized baseball. So in every sense, this is the story of a “native son.” Thomas “Tom” F. Massiah

About the Author

Thomas F. Massiah is a graduate of Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) with a bachelor of science in chemistry in 1947. He later received a master’s in science in organic chemistry from McGill in 1956, and a PhD from Université de Montréal in organic chemistry in 1962. For twenty-two years, Massiah did postdoctoral research work primarily in the area of pharmaceuticals and was granted five patents. He became a chartered chemist in 1984 and was elected as a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1988. Massiah’s biography was listed in American Men and Women of Science. Massiah taught chemistry as an evening division lecturer at Sir George Williams from 1949 to 1964. He was also a faculty member of Seneca College from 1985 to 1991 where he taught chemistry, pharmaceutical science, and mathematics. In 1986, Massiah was appointed to the Ontario Ministry of Health’s Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee (DQTC) and served on this committee until 1989. He received a book prize from the DQTC at the conclusion of the appointment. He served as president of the Association of the Chemical Profession of Ontario from 1979 to 1981 and received a Certificate of Appreciation from the association in 1986. From 1985 to 1999, he functioned as a consultant in the pharmaceutical field. Massiah is now retired from the active practice of chemistry. Massiah founded the Montreal Negro Alumni Group (MNAG), dedicated to furthering postsecondary education among blacks, in 1953 and was their first president. The MNAG gave more than $30,000 in scholarships and bursaries during its fifteen-year existence. During 1968, Massiah served as president of the University Negro Alumni Club, a Toronto-based group with similar objectives to the MNAG that Massiah founded. Massiah liaised with the Toronto police as chairman on behalf of the National Black Coalition from 1972 to 1975 in an attempt to improve police/community relations. From 1988 to 1996, Massiah tutored black students in mathematics (grades 11 to OAC) at Vaughan Road Collegiate, as a member of the Saturday morning program, sponsored by the York Board of Education, in cooperation with the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators. Massiah was an Anglican church warden from 1977 to 1980. Concurrently, he also served as a fund-raising chairman for Anglicans in mission.