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Elisabeth Mann Borgese was born in Munich in 1918 to Katia Pringsheim and Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann. The fifth of six children, Elisabeth was raised in an intellectual family whose views supported the post-war movement for World Federalism. In exile from Nazi Germany, Elisabeth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and a diploma from the Conservatory of Music in Zurich before her family immigrated to the United States in 1938. The following year, Elisabeth married Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, an Italian-born writer and professor at Princeton University, with whom she had two children, Domenica and Angelica.

Working as a research associate with Giuseppe Borgese and other international scholars at the University of Chicago, Elisabeth helped to form "The Committee to Frame a World Constitution" and edited their monthly journal, Common Cause. Her publishing and translation work expanded to include editorial positions in Italy with the Ford Foundation's Intercultural Publications, Perspectives USA, and Diogenes, a UNESCO quarterly. She also served as Executive Secretary with the Board of Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Widowed in 1952, Elisabeth continued to pursue the ideas articulated by the committee, writing a critical introduction to the Constitution of the World, which was reissued in 1966 by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California. It was through the Center, where she was Senior Fellow from 1964 to 1978, that Elisabeth first focused her attentions on the law of the sea as an area of critical international concern. She began to publish ocean-related research, including The Ocean Regime, a blueprint for a "constitution for the world's oceans," in an effort to urge world leaders to re-examine ocean governance. In the late 1960s, she organized the first Pacem in Maribus conference as a forum for discussing the law of the sea, bringing it to the attention of international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The first Pacem in Maribus conference was held in Malta in 1970. The annual event has since been hosted by countries including Algeria, Cameroon, Canada, China, India, Japan, and Sri Lanka. Over time, the dialogue of diplomats, civil servants, industrialists, fisheries experts, oceanographers, biologists, economists, and legal experts regarding the factors affecting "the common heritage of mankind" laid the foundation for the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. A founding member of groups such as the Club of Rome, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and the Group of '78, Elisabeth invested great effort in working with organizations to influence international policy. In 1972, she established the International Ocean Institute (IOI) at the Royal University of Malta with the cooperation of the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Malta. As Chairman of the Planning Council, she worked with the IOI to sponsor Pacem in Maribus, to conduct training programmes, and to facilitate and publish research with the goal of promoting peace and a deeper understanding of oceans and their resources in world policy and sustainable economic development.

In 1978, Elisabeth relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, taking up Canadian citizenship. As a Killam Fellow at Dalhousie University, she taught courses in political science and continued to pursue projects relating to disarmament, international development, integration of marine resources, and marine management. Serving as a member of the Austrian Delegation to the Third United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, Elisabeth was instrumental in the 1982 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its entry into force in 1994.

Elisabeth's career was prolific and diverse. Attracted by Ghandi and his policy of sovereignty through peace, fascinated by the lives of animals and their methods of communication, a curious and creative writer of poetry, plays and fiction, Elisabeth expressed her interests and dedication to the environment through the written word and countless addresses. She published fifteen books, including The New International Economic Order and the Law of the Sea, The Drama of the Oceans, and The Ascent of Woman, as well as essays and short stories in publications such as New Directions, Nation and Atlantic Monthly. Embracing challenge and diversity, Elisabeth acted as a consultant to the World Bank, UNIDO and UNESCO, lectured internationally, and was awarded with three honorary doctorates. She received prizes and honours from the governments of Austria, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany and the UK, as well as awards from the Francis of Assisi Environmental Committee, the United Nations and the World Conservation Union. In 2001Germany bestowed its most prestigious award on her, the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. A true citizen of the world, Elisabeth Mann Borgese — the "Ambassador of the Seas" — died at the age of 83 in St. Moritz after a morning on the slopes.

In 2018 Elisabeth Mann Borgese was named one of 52 Dalhousie Originals, a list of individuals identified as having made a significant impact on the university and the broader community since Dalhousie's inception in 1818. https://www.dal.ca/about-dal/dalhousie-originals/elisabeth-mann-borgese.html

(William) Edward Broome was a Canadian choral conductor, organist, composer, and educator. Born in Manchester on January 3, 1868, Broome spent most of his childhood in Wales where he studied piano and organ with Roland Rogers and conducting with Jules Riviere. He received his piano diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England 1884 and was named a Fellow of the Guild of Organists in 1889.

He moved to Canada in 1893, where he was the organist-choirmaster at the First Presbyterian Church in Brockville, Ontario (1893-1895); the Douglas Methodist Church in Montreal, Quebec (1895-1906); the Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto, Ontario (1906-1925); and the Knox United Church in Calgary, Alberta (1926-1927). He received his Bachelor of Music from Trinity College in 1901 and his Doctorate of Music from the University of Toronto in 1908. In 1907, he began teaching at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and from 1910 to 1925 he directed the Toronto Oratorio Society. He died in Toronto, Ontario on April 28, 1932.

Alan Bruce Creighton was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 5, 1903, the son of Charles Jolly (C.J.) Creighton and Harriet Smith (Hendry) Creighton. He attended the Victoria School of Art and Design and the Halifax Conservatory of Music, playing violin. He was also employed as a reporter covering the shipping news for the Halifax Chronicle and played piano to accompany silent films at Acker’s Theatre in Dartmouth. In addition, Alan attended business school, became a farmhand, and worked in an automobile factory in Detroit, Michigan.

Upon moving to Toronto, Alan worked at Canadian Forum Magazine and the Old Favourites Antiquarian Bookstore. Additionally, he was an editor of A New Canadian Anthology, published in 1938.

Throughout his life, Alan was a prolific writer of diaries, short stories, poems, and reminisces. He was also an active artist, doing mainly sketches and watercolours. Many of his poems and stories were printed in magazines and newspapers and two books of his poetry were published: Earth Call: A Book of Poems (1936) and Cross Country (1939). Both publications were well-reviewed.

Alan Creighton passed away in Toronto, Ontario on June 24, 2003 at the age of ninety-nine.

Brian Flemming was born 19 February 1939 to Everett F. J. Flemming and Margaret Meagher. He received a B.Sc. from St. Mary’s University (1959), a LL.B. from Dalhousie University (1962), a LL.M. in Public International Law from University of London, England (1964), and the Hague Diploma in International Law (1964).

Flemming has led a multifaceted career as a lawyer, educator, and author. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he lectured at Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s universities on the law of international institutions, the law of the sea, and commercial law. He also served as a consultant in international law to U.S. Naval War College from 1968 to 1971, was a senior partner of Stewart, MacKeen & Covert, Halifax, and was made a Queen’s Counsel in 1978.

In the 1970s Flemming became more involved with government. He became an advisor to the Department of External Affairs and the Department of the Environment in 1972 on the subject of marine and environmental conferences. He also served as Principal Secretary and Policy Advisor to Prime Minster Trudeau between 1976 and 1979. In 1974 and again in 1979, Flemming entered the federal elections as a Liberal, losing the 1979 election by a mere fifteen votes. More recently, he served as chairman for the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel in 2000.

In addition to these activities, Flemming has been active in business, publishing, and in various other organizations. He has held directorships at Noranda Inc., VGM Capital, and Brunswick Mining; written a substantial volume of literature related to the law of the sea and international law, as well as article and book reviews; was a member of the executive committee and ultimately the chairman of the Canada Council (1972-1975); and he served as a director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has also been involved with artistic organizations such as the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Neptune Theatre, and the Maritime Conservatory of Music among others.

A recognized community leader, Flemming was awarded the Order of Canada in 1989 for his contributions to law and his volunteer community activities. He also received a honourary doctorate from the University of King’s College in 1991.

Brian Flemming currently resides in Halifax and writes weekly columns for the Halifax Daily News and AOL Canada.

Sheila Piercy was an opera singer, voice teacher and philanthropist, who supported aspiring artists and the performing arts in Nova Scotia and across Canada. Born on 18 November 1933 to Lilian MacKinnon and Reginald Piercy, she began singing at a young age under the tutelage of her mother. She attended Halifax Ladies College and toured with a ballet company and skating show before studying at Dalhousie University from 1951-1954, where she was active in sports and the Dalhousie Glee and Dramatic Society and King’s College Dramatic and Choral Society.

After studying voice in Halifax under Leonard Mayoh, she moved to Toronto in 1956 to take up a scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto opera program. Mentored by Ernesto Vinci, she began life as a professional soprano with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in 1958, where she stayed for the next 13 years. In addition to her work with the COC, Sheila Piercy performed regularly on the CBC and at the Banff Centre, Stratford Festival, Rainbow Stage and Charlottetown Festival. After retiring from the COC in 1971, she moved back to Nova Scotia, and from 1977 -1982 she taught voice at Dalhousie University. She was a key supporter of Dalhousie's Performing Arts Campaign, and her gift of $1.5 million honoured some of her mentors through the naming of the Ernesto Vinci Studio and Leonard and Doris Mayoh Studio. A third studio, the Sheila K. Piercey Rehearsal Studio, provides a rehearsal space for students. She died on 20 May 2019.