Roderick J. MacDonald

MACDONALD, K.C.S.G., M.D. (C.M.), RODERICK JOSEPH, teacher and physician; b. 16 May 1858 in Maple Hill, son of Ronald Macdonald and Jean Macdonald; m. 19 July 1894 M. Josephine Macdonald, and they had nine children, Marie Alycia, R. Colin, Jean, Somerled, George, Cyril, Roderick E., Jean, and Cyril; Roman Catholic; d. 4 June 1961 in St. Peters. Macdonald, a Conservative, was elected to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election held 7 November 1917 for 2nd Kings. He was defeated in the general election of 1919. In the by-election he admittedly did not campaign enthusiastically, and was elected by a five-vote majority. Macdonald later confessed that he never had any love for politics. According to the Atlantic Advocate, he was defeated because his constituents wanted him to have more time to practise medicine. "Doctor Roddie," as he was known, received his primary education in Maple Hill, and later attended Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's College. After teaching school for several years, and working in the evening as a bookkeeper for a local merchant, Macdonald had saved sufficient money to enroll in medical school in Trinity College, Toronto. He graduated with a medical degree in 1888 and began practising medicine in St Peters. Macdonald continued his practice for 69 years. In 1952 Pope Pius XII conferred upon him the title Knight of St. Gregory the Great. In 1958 he was dubbed "the doctor of the century" and "the dean of Canadian physicians" at a dinner held in his honour by the executive committee of the Canadian Medical Association in Charlottetown. Macdonald was a life member of this organization. As a result of such commitment to the medical needs of his community, Roderick Macdonald was greatly admired, and in testament to the respect he received from the community, after his death on 4 July 1961, the procession at his funeral was three miles long. M. Josephine Macdonald died October 1947. She was the daughter of Augustine Colin Macdonald* and Mary Elizabeth Macdonald.