Doctor of Letters
(honoris causa) DLitt
John and Adrienne met in 1960 while attending St. Francis Xavier (StFX) University. Adrienne was a home economics student from Coxheath, Nova Scotia and John was a business student from Quebec City. They were both very involved in campus life - Adrienne with the Dramatic Society and the Model Parliament, and John as President of the Debating Society and Business Manager of the varsity football team. After graduating in 1963, Adrienne qualified as a registered dietitian at University Hospital in Saskatoon and John articled with the accounting firm Clarkson Gordon in Montreal and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966.
John and Adrienne were married in 1965 and settled down in Montreal where they had two sons, Mark and Kevin. Today, they are the proud grandparents of four granddaughters, Emma, Tea, Lela, and Quinn.
John was admitted to the partnership of Clarkson Gordon (now Ernst & Young) in 1972. He spent the next seven years as an audit partner in Montreal and Quebec City, and one year in New York City with the firm of Arthur Young and Company. In 1979, John decided to join one of the firm’s clients, Fednav Limited, a Canadian ocean-going, dry bulk ship owning and chartering company. John enjoyed a very interesting career with Fednav, retiring in 2007 as Executive Vice-President. In 2018, John was installed as the tenth Chancellor of StFX University.
After moving to Montreal, Adrienne taught home economics at two different high schools and was very active in her University and various local charitable organizations. She was a member of the StFX Board of Governors for six years, chaired the Montreal chapter of the Alumni Association, and with John, was co-chair of the Annual Giving Campaign. A major commitment was serving on the Board and as President of the Royal Victoria Hospital Auxiliary.
Like Adrienne, John also served on many corporate and not-for-profit boards, including as Chairman of Oceanex Inc., Board member with Teekay Offshore Partners, Chairman of the McGill University Hospital Foundation, Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Foundation, and Trustee for the McCord Museum.
After he retired from Fednav in 2007, John and Adrienne founded The Peacock Family Foundation which has been actively involved in supporting not-for-profit organizations where they felt they could make a difference. They have involved their children in the Foundation and today their daughter-in-law, Giselle Murphy, is the foundation’s Executive Director.
Education has been a primary focus of the Foundation and in 2016 it provided a major gift to support the establishment of a Public Interest Law Clinic at the University of Calgary, and the Dr. John T. Sears Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility at St Francis Xavier University.
In various capacities, John and Adrienne have been long term supporters of the Coady International Institute at StFX, which has been educating leaders in development from around the world since 1959.