Championing the Connection of Community & Regiment

HCol Neville Poy, OC, OStJ

Neville Poy was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Queen’s York Rangers in 2003 and then served as Honorary Colonel from 2007 to 2010. He was subsequently appointed Honorary Colonel Emeritus and continues supporting the Regiment in that role.

Dr. Poy is a renowned plastic surgeon, photographer and philanthropist. Born in Hong Kong, then British Hong Kong, in 1934, he moved to Ottawa with his family in 1942 at the age of seven following the fall of Hong Kong to Japan during the Second World War. His family included his father, William Poy, his mother, Ethel Poy, and his sister Adrienne Clarkson, who later served as Governor General of Canada from 1999 to 2005.

Poy attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa and graduated from medical school at McGill University in 1960. He moved to Toronto soon afterwards, where he established a practice as a cosmetic surgeon. He was also director of the first burn unit in Canada at Sunnybrook Hospital, remaining there until his retirement in 1995.

In 1962, Dr. Poy married the Honourable Vivienne Poy, who later served as a member of the Senate from 1998 to 2012 and as Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 2003 to 2006.

In 1998, Neville Poy was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, Canada’s second-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his work as an internationally renowned plastic surgeon whose research in trauma improved medical care for accident victims.