Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt - A Father of Confederation, Alexander Galt was a dynamic promoter, visionary, and statesman. In raising capital and enlisting government support for the Grand Trunk Railway, he built a personal fortune and launched his political career. Elected MLA for Sherbrooke, Galt joined John A. Macdonald's government as finance minister in 1858, and formulated the financial terms for Confederation. Later Galt split with Macdonald and left politics. He returned to the business world to develop railroads, mines, and agriculture in Western Canada.

Hannah Willard Lyman - An early feminist, Hannah Lyman was born in Massachusetts, studied under some of the first female educators, and began teaching at 17. In Montreal she ran a girl's seminary, her success earning her the principalship of Vassar. To her colleagues she was a "truehearted woman" who "never spared herself" in Vassar's interests.

John Samuel McCord - A member of Montreal's social elite, McCord was a lawyer and Superior Court Justice. a true "Renaissance Man", he was a founding member of the "Brothers-in-Law" dining club, served in the militia, and was a dedicated amateur scientist, with papers published in scientific journals. McCord was Chancellor of Bishop's University, founder of Bishop's College School, director of the Montreal General Hospital and first president of The Mount Royal Cemetery Company. His son David founded the McCord Museum.

John Redpath - A successful building contractor, Redpath moved rapidly into the highest ranks of the Montreal business community. In 1854 he built the Province of Canada's first sugar refinery, importing sugar cane from the West Indies on his own vessels. Father of ten children by his first wife and seven by his second, Redpath cared about the public welfare and supported missions, hospitals and colleges. His son Peter financed McGill's Repath Museum and Library.

Sir Thomas Roddick - Roddick was professor of surgery at McGill University. He studied in Britain with Joseph Lister and in 1877 introduced Lister's antiseptic methods to the Montreal General Hospital. Later, he was deputy surgeon general of the expedition sent to subdue the Northwest Rebellion in 1885. The family monument was designed to resemble McGill University's Roddick Gates.