In memory of Margaret Berry MacLean founding director of the dental hygiene program

On March 7, 2022, MacLean, founding director of the School of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program and co-founder of the Canadian Dental Hygiene Association (CDHA), passed away at the age of 92.

  • Tarwinder Rai
  • 30 March 2022

Sixty-one years ago Margaret Berry MacLean got into her blue Ford and started driving west—she was heading to Edmonton from Ottawa. MacLean had just been appointed director of the dental hygiene program at the University of Alberta, a program that didn’t yet exist. 

MacLean had a mere nine months to develop an entirely new dental hygiene school from the ground up and have it running before the fall semester. Edmonton is also where she would meet her future husband Hector R. MacLean, who served as dean of the former Faculty of Dentistry from 1958 to 1970. 

Little did MacLean know that she was about to single-handedly lay the foundation for a dental hygiene program—a field that at the time was still mostly unheard of and unaccepted by dentists— that would become one of the leading programs in the country. 

On March 7, 2022, MacLean, founding director of the School of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program and co-founder of the Canadian Dental Hygiene Association (CDHA), passed away at the age of 92. She was predeceased by her husband.

A trailblazer and visionary ahead of her time, MacLean established a program that today is woven into the health care of all Albertans. She was intellectually curious and adventurous and loved teaching. Her willpower to thrive against all odds is clear in this excerpt from Extracted tales from a century of Dentistry at the University of Alberta: “Berry (MacLean) was a headstrong, determined woman operating in a male environment just thirty-three years after the Supreme Court of Canada declared women persons.”

MacLean graduated from Mount Allison University in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, which she followed with a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene from Columbia University in 1953. 

MacLean was the director of the dental hygiene program 1961 from 1975. After stepping down as director, MacLean stayed on as professor for another two years before joining her husband in retirement. In 2000, she was the recipient of the Bulyea Cup, the highest honour the School of Dentistry bestows on its faculty members. In 2016, MacLean became a lifetime member of the CDHA.

“Mrs. MacLean was a strong and determined woman with a great vision and a great sense of humour,” says Sharon Compton, the current director of the dental hygiene program. “I was fortunate to be able to spend time with her on many occasions, often at the Faculty Club where she enjoyed sitting outside on the patio when weather permitted. During these times, we had lively and engaging discussions about the program, the profession, our shared Maritime roots and love for our dogs.”

MacLean continued to give generously to the program following her retirement and her legacy will live on for generations to come. She will truly be missed and always remembered. As her obituary states, “Her interests were as diverse as her thirst for learning. She felt knowledge was the greatest gift in life.”