Taken from the 1955 Allisonian yearbook. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Cyril Walter Benjamin Harper was born on Montserrat, West Indies on 30 January 1928. He grew up on the island of Saint Kitts and was the son of Lewis Harper and Sarah Mahoney. He came to Mount Allison in the fall of 1953 to study Commerce. He played Varsity soccer for two years and also played on the "Polar Bears" hockey team in connection with the Club Tropicale of which he was an active member. He earned his Bachelor of Commerce on 10 May 1955, becoming the first person of colour to obtain the degree at Mount Allison University, two years after it had been implemented. Thereafter, he worked as a chartered accountant in Ontario. He was a volunteer with the Literacy Council, Red Cross and through his church community. He was married to Lucille Elizabeth "Betty" Greer (1934-2014) for fifty-two years. The couple had two children: Eric and Kim. Cyril Harper died on 26 January 2023 in Newmarket, Ontario.