Don Cherry turns down Royal Military College of Canada

NEWS RELEASE

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

*************************** Don Cherry respectfully declines honorary degree from the Royal Military College of Canada

OTTAWA - The Senate of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) today announced that Mr. Don Cherry, a renowned hockey commentator and strong supporter of Canada's military personnel and families, will not be accepting an Honorary Degree, as planned for the 2011 Fall Convocation.

"We received with regret, but with complete understanding, Mr. Don Cherry's personal decision not to participate in the forthcoming Convocation at the Royal Military College of Canada," said Dr. Joel Sokolsky, principal of RMCC. "It would have been our honour and privilege for Mr. Cherry to have received an Honorary Degree from the university, in recognition of his outstanding support for our Canadian Forces personnel and for his incredible charitable work."

One of the aims of granting Honorary Degrees at the Royal Military College of Canada is to recognize people who are making a difference.

For more than two decades, Don Cherry has been a stalwart public supporter of the members of the Canadian Forces and their families.

In Canada and overseas, he has visited Canadian Forces personnel to boost their morale through both his entertaining personality and his heartfelt appreciation for their sacrifice.

Mr. Cherry is also known for his charitable causes, including organ donor awareness and Rose Cherry's Home for Kids, which is a pediatric and hospice care facility for children now called the Darling Home for Kids.

The decision to bestow an Honorary Degree rests with the RMCC Senate, an independent body whose function is to grant degrees and honorary degrees.

It is comprised of the chancellor; the commandant; the principal; the vice-principal; the deans of the academic faculties; the dean of graduate studies and research; the dean of continuing studies; the academic director of the royal military college, Saint-Jean; the representative of the faculty board; the director of cadets; and the registrar.

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