McGill's Sheryl and David Kerr, Montréal's Robert Panet-Raymond named 2024 Mitchell Family Alumni of the Year
Sheryl and David Kerr of McGill and Robert Panet-Raymond of Montréal were named the 2024 recipients of the Mitchell Family Alumni of the Year Award on Saturday afternoon during the Mitchell Bowl broadcast on CBC Sports.
The award, launched in 2021, is presented annually to former male and female varsity athletes who have shown outstanding post-graduation leadership in their communities and continued contributions to their universities.
Honouring the legacy of Lois and Doug Mitchell, long-time supporters of the U SPORTS Athlete of the Year Program, this award celebrates the contributions of Canadian university alumni. The Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board founded by Doug Mitchell in 1993, selected this year’s recipients.
“We are proud and honoured to have Sheryl and David Kerr and Robert Panet-Raymond join our illustrious list of Mitchell Family Award winners,” said the honourable Lois Mitchell, “The engagement and support of passionate alumni has been so fundamental to the success story of university sports in Canada. Our winners this year represent the best version of this support and belief in our student-athletes.”
David and Sheryl Kerr have donated over $5 million to their alma mater since graduating, including gifts to their respective faculties as well as to McGill Athletics & Recreation. They met while playing varsity hockey at McGill in the 1960s and remain involved in numerous philanthropical initiatives together as a team.
In 1967, the same year that Sheryl graduated, she made her first of many gifts to McGill, beginning a half-century of philanthropy to the University. In 2001, they pledged $40,000 towards the University’s McConnell Arena renewal project. In 2006, they began pledging gifts that have since totaled one million dollars to create the Kerr Martlets Hockey Coaching Chair, a full-time position for the McGill women’s hockey program. In 2018, they donated $3.5 million to create the Kerr Family Women in Sports Program, a pioneering initiative aimed at changing the landscape for women in sports, particularly in the Canadian university context. The program’s impact has extended beyond the walls of McGill University with female part-time coaches moving on to full-time positions across the country.
"Sheryl and David are pioneers when it comes to gender inequities in the U SPORTS context and, thanks to their contributions, they have influenced other key stakeholders to take action and follow their lead,” said Geoffrey Phillips, Executive Director, McGill Athletics and Recreation “I am fortunate to have been involved with the McGill Women in Sport initiative since its inception back in 2018,and cannot think of two more deserving people to receive this award."
Robert Panet-Raymond’s support for the Carabins spans over 25 years. As a philanthropist, administrator and former football player, Robert has played a key role in the success of the Carabins program throughout the 2000s. As the first alum to become a major donor to the Carabins, Robert paved the way for those who’ve followed and helped to build a culture of francophone sports philanthropy.
In his 20-year tenure as President of the CEPSUM-Carabins Board of Directors, Robert contributed to the rapid expansion of the Carabins program, as it grew from four or five teams to 23. His lifetime philanthropic support for the Carabins and Polytechnique Montréal exceeds one million dollars, which allowed for upgrades to the football team’s locker and weight rooms. The Carabins presented Panet-Raymond with an Award of Distinction in 2010 for his contributions to the development of the sport excellence program, at the time the largest individual gift made to the institution’s athletics program.
For his exceptional contributions to the field of engineering, in 2011 Robert received the prestigious Polytechnique Alumni Association Award of Merit. In 2019, he was named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, the highest distinction bestowed by the Government of Quebec, for his volunteerism as a board member with multiple organizations in his community. In June 2024, he was named a member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his philanthropic support for the CEPSUM-Carabins and the Maison des Étudiants Canadiens in Paris. These honours are in addition to the title of Knight of France’s National Order of the Legion of Honour, granted in 2016, and Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal, which he received in 2002.
“Robert Panet-Raymond has been a part of all the debates and highlights of the Carabins relaunch for nearly 25 years,” said Manon Simard, Executive Director, CEPSUM and the Carabins.
“He has given an incalculable number of hours to helping us move forward on a multitude of projects and been a precious ally in the renewal of the program’s structure. He opened doors when we needed them and has been at the forefront of our historic successes. Robert is a visionary, a philanthropist and a board member who continues to serve a pillar of the Carabins’ development.”