1995 Fredericton Convocation
Green, Desmond J.
Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1995
DESMOND J. GREEN
to be Doctor of Science
There was a notion among the early founders of New Brunswick that their new province should be called New Ireland. It was green like the Emerald Isle, and as some of them were to discover, its soil was as reticent and farming as difficult as it was in the old sod itself. Heavy Irish immigration in the nineteenth century ensured that the land became, in truth, a new Ireland, whatever its name.
These things are worth remembering today as we honour Desmond Green. He comes from Ireland where he is a successful businessman. Thirty years ago he was a graduate student at the University of New Brunswick, pursuing a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. His life and his career brought the old and new Irelands together, and he still considers this one his second spiritual home.
When he arrived here from Ireland in the 1960s, he was a bright and ambitious graduate of University College, Dublin, where he had excelled as a student and had won distinction as president of the University Society, notorious among conservative Irishmen for its debates about the failure of Irish nationalism and the advantages of free love. He remained at UNB as student and lecturer for five years before embarking on his chosen career in chemical engineering, taking jobs in Canada and then the United States.
His love for Ireland, however, eventually won out. He returned there in the 1970s and founded his own company, Minchem, a specialist in environmental protection and the disposal of toxic wastes. His move was fortuitous, for it came at the tune when pharmaceutical companies from all over the world were flocking to Ireland as a base for their European operations. Desmond Green became an advisor to government, a liaison between industry and educational institutions, and a devoted booster of Ireland as a place to do business. Today, his companies manage the recovery and safe disposal of three quarters of the toxic and hazardous wastes produced in Ireland. And he is tough; whether he speaks to industry or government, he consistently argues that the polluter pays. By mediating between industrialization and environmental protection, he has helped his country develop high technology manufacturing while preserving its beauty and the traditional pursuits of farming and tourism.
But then, one almost expects that a man with a name like Green will be both Irish and an environmentalist. What one does not quite expect is the Desmond Green who, like the brash undergraduate who defied convention back in the 1960s, still challenges the accepted wisdom of the old ways. Almost as soon as he returned to Ireland to build his business, he joined a group determined to transform Irish education. Since the nineteenth century, schooling in Ireland had been denominational. In 1975, Desmond Green and some colleagues formed the Dalkey School Project, the object of which was to establish multidenominational, co-educational schools under democratic control and to get them accepted and supported within the National School system. There was resistance from both church and state, but in the end, they succeeded in establishing the first multidenominational school in the country. Today there are fourteen such schools, bound together under the slogan "Educate Together", pointing the way toward a more open, tolerant, pluralist society of the future. Desmond Green has been a driving force with the project for twenty years, for six of which he served as its chairman.
One could fill a page with the list of professional and business associations to which he belongs. But this would miss the mark, for Desmond Green is a doer rather than a joiner. What is so truly remarkable about his career is the way in which his many interests have come together: he is a highly successful businessman and engineer, environmentalist, advisor to government and industry, and social visionary. He is committed to education as the key to economic success and social reform. Yet all of these forward-thinking goals blend with a deep attachment to family and the simple Irish values: warmth, humour, and a fierce attachment to the old sod itself. What Desmond Green has done in Ireland deserves widespread recognition. That some small part of his personal development came at UNB makes us intensely proud.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
DESMOND J. GREEN
to be Doctor of Science
There was a notion among the early founders of New Brunswick that their new province should be called New Ireland. It was green like the Emerald Isle, and as some of them were to discover, its soil was as reticent and farming as difficult as it was in the old sod itself. Heavy Irish immigration in the nineteenth century ensured that the land became, in truth, a new Ireland, whatever its name.
These things are worth remembering today as we honour Desmond Green. He comes from Ireland where he is a successful businessman. Thirty years ago he was a graduate student at the University of New Brunswick, pursuing a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. His life and his career brought the old and new Irelands together, and he still considers this one his second spiritual home.
When he arrived here from Ireland in the 1960s, he was a bright and ambitious graduate of University College, Dublin, where he had excelled as a student and had won distinction as president of the University Society, notorious among conservative Irishmen for its debates about the failure of Irish nationalism and the advantages of free love. He remained at UNB as student and lecturer for five years before embarking on his chosen career in chemical engineering, taking jobs in Canada and then the United States.
His love for Ireland, however, eventually won out. He returned there in the 1970s and founded his own company, Minchem, a specialist in environmental protection and the disposal of toxic wastes. His move was fortuitous, for it came at the tune when pharmaceutical companies from all over the world were flocking to Ireland as a base for their European operations. Desmond Green became an advisor to government, a liaison between industry and educational institutions, and a devoted booster of Ireland as a place to do business. Today, his companies manage the recovery and safe disposal of three quarters of the toxic and hazardous wastes produced in Ireland. And he is tough; whether he speaks to industry or government, he consistently argues that the polluter pays. By mediating between industrialization and environmental protection, he has helped his country develop high technology manufacturing while preserving its beauty and the traditional pursuits of farming and tourism.
But then, one almost expects that a man with a name like Green will be both Irish and an environmentalist. What one does not quite expect is the Desmond Green who, like the brash undergraduate who defied convention back in the 1960s, still challenges the accepted wisdom of the old ways. Almost as soon as he returned to Ireland to build his business, he joined a group determined to transform Irish education. Since the nineteenth century, schooling in Ireland had been denominational. In 1975, Desmond Green and some colleagues formed the Dalkey School Project, the object of which was to establish multidenominational, co-educational schools under democratic control and to get them accepted and supported within the National School system. There was resistance from both church and state, but in the end, they succeeded in establishing the first multidenominational school in the country. Today there are fourteen such schools, bound together under the slogan "Educate Together", pointing the way toward a more open, tolerant, pluralist society of the future. Desmond Green has been a driving force with the project for twenty years, for six of which he served as its chairman.
One could fill a page with the list of professional and business associations to which he belongs. But this would miss the mark, for Desmond Green is a doer rather than a joiner. What is so truly remarkable about his career is the way in which his many interests have come together: he is a highly successful businessman and engineer, environmentalist, advisor to government and industry, and social visionary. He is committed to education as the key to economic success and social reform. Yet all of these forward-thinking goals blend with a deep attachment to family and the simple Irish values: warmth, humour, and a fierce attachment to the old sod itself. What Desmond Green has done in Ireland deserves widespread recognition. That some small part of his personal development came at UNB makes us intensely proud.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
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