‘The Bug Man’ loved insect tees. They’re now being sold to help good causes

Article content

When world-renowned London scientist and teacher Jeremy McNeil died in July, he left more than a legacy of research, awards, education and friendships around the world.

Article content

Article content

He also left more than 600 bug T-shirts.

“The Bug Man. That’s what everyone called him,” his longtime partner Shelley Yeo says. “He was always looking for insect T-shirts. He started collecting them probably from conferences that he went to. That’s what he always wore. He was known by his T-shirts.”

Article content

Adorned with beautiful or comic art of butterflies, grasshoppers, lady bug, bees. Sporting insect jokes: Weevil Overcome, Dung Love, Live Fast Die Young. Many from around the world and some in different languages.

“People kept talking about his T-shirts and asking, ‘What are you going to do with them all?’ And I thought, I don’t want them sitting in my basement,” Yeo says with a laugh.

“I wanted to acknowledge something that was really important to him, in some way. So we came up with the idea of selling by donation.”

Just through word of mouth among the hundreds of people whose lives McNeil touched, about half the T-shirts in the For the Love of Bugs campaign have been sold and Yeo and a crew of helpers have raised $5,300 for Let’s Talk Science and St. Joseph’s Hospice of London.

The campaign is going public to sell the rest and continue supporting the two organizations. Let’s Talk Science is a national organization that teaches children about science, one of McNeil’s favourite causes, and the hospice is where he spent the past weeks of his life.

That life began in England, but he spent his childhood in Newfoundland before going back overseas for his schooling.

Article content

Article content

At Lancing College, in West Sussex, England, “he was known more for his sporting prowess – representing the school at cricket, swimming and fencing – than his intelligence,” his obituary notes. His teachers also concluded “he had no talent for language.”

How wrong they were. McNeil came back to Canada and earned a zoology degree at Western, and a doctorate in entomology from North Carolina State University, winning the outstanding graduate award, before taking a position in the biology department at Laval University in Quebec City where he taught science in French for 30 years.

He returned to Western in 2004 as professor of chemical ecology. During his career, McNeil authored or co-authored more than 200 papers in ecology, and received national and international awards and honours.

Despite all accolades, McNeil was down to earth, literally.

“He called himself a dirt biologist, because he loved being out in the field, having his camera, taking pictures. He just loved to get out there and get dirty,” Yeo says.

She and McNeil met on a blind date 20 years ago.

“I had no idea how much there was to learn about bugs, and not insects, but lots of other animals. He had broad passions. He could answer a lot of questions about nature.”

Article content

McNeil travelled the world spreading knowledge as a visiting professor in universities in Brazil, Chile, China, France, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States.

“I’ve met lots of his students over the years, and they loved him,” Yeo says. Wearing one of his trademark T-shirts, often the subject of a specific lecture emblazoned on the front, McNeil would entertain as well as inform.

McNeil was just as happy visiting elementary schools as world-class universities, Yeo says.

“He really enjoyed being with kids, teaching them, answering their questions, and they had wild and crazy questions. He just really loved to see their eyes light up. He loved to see them be interested in the environment and everything around them.”

Among the hundreds of publications McNeil co-authored was What Is An Insect? a children’s book that has been translated into five languages, and is used in schools across Canada.

“He was passionate about the things he loved,” Yeo says, and that included gardening, cooking, travelling, hiking, telling stories, and sharing a glass of wine from his cellar with friends.

Article content

His online obituary is followed by pages and pages of memories from former students, colleagues, friends and people around the world.

“He was an art collector and I guess he was a collector of people, too,” Yeo says.

And T-shirts. They’ve all been laundered and are available for anyone who wants to honour the environment, insects  or the legacy of The Bug Man, and help Let’s Talk Science and St. Joseph’s Hospice of London.

To view the shirts still available, visit www.dananosella.com/album/f1siv7

For information about how to get a T-shirt and donate, email Shelley Yeo at shelleyeo@hotmail.com

rrichmond@postmedia.com

Article content