George Gardiner McNeillie, III
George McNeillie was the 125th Phi Alpha of Zeta Psi Fraternity and was also President of the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation, Inc. and the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation of Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1973, where he served as Alpha Phi and Rush Chair of the Theta Xi Chapter. Upon graduation, he served as Chapter Consultant for the Fraternity (1973-74) and Assistant Editor of The Circle. In 18 years on the boards of the Fraternity and Educational Foundation, he held every position except Treasurer.
In 2004 Brother McNeillie was honoured with the Distinguished Service Award (DSA), Zeta Psi’s highest award. In 2011, with grateful thanks from the Awards Committee he presented the DSA to Greg McElroy, his former boss, when he was a Zeta Psi Chapter Consultant.
During a 35-year career in public relations, he served as former Vice-President & General Manager of Hill + Knowlton (now H + K Strategies), and Director of Public Affairs for The Coca-Cola Bottling Company, among other positions. In 2018, George was appointed by the provincial government to the Advertising Review Board of Ontario, the agency responsible for assisting provincial ministries and agencies in procuring more than a billion dollars in annual advertising, public relations, and graphic design services. He is past Governor of the Canadian Society of Mayflower Descendants (where he helped design that organization’s coat of arms, flag, and badge); past serving officer with The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada and founding editor of its annual journal The Rifleman; former board member of the Badminton & Racquet Club of Toronto; founding Prior of the Priory of St. James and Knight Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, OSMTH-Knights Templar International (which named an award in his honour, The H.E. Capt. George G. McNeillie medal awarded annually to a member of the Order for service); former Director of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada -Toronto Branch; Colonel of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels; as well as serving on a number of volunteer boards. A consulting genealogist, he is the author of A History of the Lazier Family (2020), which catalogues some descendants of the Huguenot François Le Sueur from his arrival in Manhattan in 1657 to the present day.
