Wilbert Keon

Who is Wilbert Keon?

Wilbert Joseph Keon, OC is a heart surgeon, researcher and was a Canadian Senator.

Born in Sheenboro, Quebec, he received a Bachelor of Science from St. Patrick's College, Carleton University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ottawa.

After a period of studying and teaching at Harvard University in Boston, he returned to Ottawa in the early 1970s, Dr. Keon founded the University of Ottawa Heart Institute at the Ottawa Civic Hospital and acted as its CEO for more than thirty years until his retirement from that job in 2004. In 1986, he was the first Canadian to implant an artificial heart into a human as a bridge to transplant. He retired as a working doctor and resigned from the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in June 2010.

In 1990 he was appointed to the Senate by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn on the advice of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, where he sat as a Conservative. In 2010, Keon retired from the Senate upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

In 1960 he married Anne Jennings. They have three children: Claudia, Ryan Keon and Neil.