All in the family

Terry, John and Tom Rogers share more than just genes: for these three Montreal-born brothers, school spirit and a strong sense of philanthropy also run in the family. After graduating from McGill University, they got together in 1998 to found the Rogers Family Student Athletic Awards, a scholarship for academically inclined undergraduates at McGill who have a special talent for football. The Rogers brothers, though now living in different cities, also act with a single heart and mind when it comes to supporting research into diabetes, the illness that caused the death of their beloved sister Sheila Margaret Rogers when she was only 39.

They remember their sister with great fondness. Sheila was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when she was eight years old, but the disease barely slowed her down. A very active child, she adapted quickly to her insulin and dietary regimes and was never heard to complain about her illness. Like her brothers, she graduated from McGill, earning a BA, and later returned to the university to do her masters in Library Science, after which she worked as a librarian in what is now the Life Sciences Library. An amateur actress, world traveller and radio personality, Sheila remained close to her brothers until her death on August 14, 1970.

Thirty-seven years later, when John received his December issue of Health Perspectives, the story of Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg’s groundbreaking diabetes research, funded in part by a generous gift from John and Pattie Cleghorn, caught his eye. “We’ve always been supporters of McGill,” John explains, “and when I read the article, I knew we just had to support this cause that’s so close to our hearts.” In memory of Sheila, the brothers have created the Sheila Margaret Rogers Memorial Fund for Research in Diabetes at the McGill University Health Centre in the hope that future generations will be spared the debilitating effects of the disease. Their donation of $120,000 supports Dr. Rosenberg’s work with the synthetic protein that regenerates pancreatic islet cells in diabetes sufferers, which could potentially pave the way to getting patients off their insulin injections. Half of the Rogers’ donation will go towards the research itself and half will be put towards the infrastructure of Dr. Rosenberg’s new laboratory, to be constructed as part of the Redevelopment Project.

With clinical trials set to begin this fall, the Rogers’ donation couldn’t have come at a better time. As Tom reflects, “I knew this would be an ideal way to remember Sheila’s great strength of character and to honour her life. Making this gift has turned out to be a very cohesive act for the three of us because it’s not about the money, it’s about the memory.” Thinking of how Sheila would have reacted to her brothers’ donation, Terry smiles, “She’d be sort of embarrassed but really thankful. I think she’d be overwhelmed.”