< esting man, perhaps something of a 'char- acter' and the mother who had a been a school teacher was a determined and self- reliant woman. Bert's sister was educated to be a teacher like her mother." Noting on Collip's early education, they wrote: "Bert received his primary educa- tion in a one-room country school within walking distance of his home. His educa- tion was continued at the Belleville High School where he developed an interest in science, especially chemistry. With a uni- versity education now an ambition, Bert showed the qualities necessary for success and achievement." His spare time after school and during vacations, they wrote, was taken up in helping his grandfather sell his garden produce taking them around town on a horse and buggy. Collip began his journey to fame at age 15 when he joined the Trinity College at the University of Toronto. At the time, stu- dents at this residential college studied in an environment where, the journal noted, gas was the source of light and open-grate fires supplied the only heat. "Gowns were worn for lectures and blazers in the evening." Collip, who, Barr and Rossiter said, wanted to enter medicine but was consid- ered too young for the course. So, he stud- ied physiology and biochemistry instead. Studies aside, Collip, note Barr and Rossiter, was active in tennis, skating and participated in the university steeplechase. In 1915, at the age of 22, Collip accept- ed a lecturing position in Edmonton at the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine. Collip stayed in this job for 13 years rising to the position of professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry in 1920. Following his work on the study of insulin with the Toronto team, Collip con- tinued further study in, the field. Four years later and in 1929, Collip left Alberta to go join the teaching staff at McGill University where he remained until 1947. That year, Collip became dean of the med- ical faculty of the University of Western Ontario, serving there until 1961. Collip died in London, Ont. on June 19, 1965 at age 72. "In addition to a life of fulfillment through accomplishments of scientific and medical importance, Professor Collip's career was enriched by a happy family life and by the friendship of a host of individ- uals who were attracted to his brilliance as a scientist and his warm personality," observed Barr and Rossiter summing up the charmed life of this brilliant bio- chemist from Belleville. Contact Benzie Sangma at: bsangma@cogeco.ca PHOTOS ARE FROM THE DISCOVERY OF INSULIN BY MICHAEL Buss The group picture is said to be the only one available of more than two members of the group of four who took part in the study of insulin in 1921. From left: Dr. James Bertram'Collip, Dr. Charles Best, Mrs F.N.L Starr and Dr. Frederick Banting. The photo was taken around 1936.