A Taste of Victory
September 7, 2007
Cedric Gillott, Biology professor emeritus, displays a glass of his homemade apple cider that took first place in an international home brewing competition. It is one of a spate of gold medals Gillott and his department has received recently.
Photo by Kirk Sibbald
By Kirk Sibbald
The Department of Biology, and professor emeritus Cedric Gillott in particular, look to have developed the Midas touch in recent months.
Gillott has been chosen by the Entomological Society of Canada to receive its prestigious gold medal for life-time contribution to biology when the society holds its annual meeting in Saskatoon from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3.
He also won a gold medal for his cider entry in a recent North American home brewing competition. And, a biology grad student under his tutelage – Tara Gariepy – received the Governor General’s gold medal for academic standing during convocation ceremonies in June.
Needless to say it’s been a whirlwind last few months for Gillott, who joked it was nice to receive some medals of his own after Gariepy was presented with hers earlier this summer.
“It was pleasing, especially since my student had just won the gold medal as the top student. I was able to e-mail her and say, ‘You’re not the only one who got a gold medal, I got one for cider making,’” he said with a laugh.
Gillott and his wife began brewing ciders, beers, lagers and wines out of their home in 1971. Although he never took the hobby competitively, one of his recent cider batches received too many glowing reviews to ignore. A member of the Head Hunters, a local brewing club that meets monthly, Gillott was encouraged to submit a sample of his popular apple cider to a North American competition held in Regina.
“I took this to a meeting and they said, ‘Wow, this is fantastic.’ And it really was quite nice,” he said. “It looked great and it tasted great, so I thought I would send it in.”
The decision turned out to be a good one, as Gillott took top honours in the cider category and was presented with a gold medal and a box-full of other goodies to commemorate his first place finish.
More meaningful than the cider-making prize, however, is the gold medal Gillott will be receiving from the Entomological Society of Canada at month’s end. The society’s president told Gillott he was close to be awarded the medal two years ago, and finally being honoured for his life’s work is extremely gratifying for the longtime professor.
Gillott has been working at the U of S since 1965. Though he took early retirement in 1999, the professor has remained very active in the department, coming into his office every morning and continuing to take grad students under his wing each year.
“It really, in a sense, is the highlight, the pinnacle of your career,” said Gillott. “I’ve remained active and intend to do so for years to come.”