Murray Sinclair, Com’84, can still clearly remember what his brother Craig told him when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in March 2021: Craig not only wanted to live as long as he could, but he wanted to live “big” every day.  

And he did, indulging in everything from hamburgers and milkshakes when he probably shouldn’t have to spending as much time as possible with the people he loved.  

That lust for life stayed true as Craig held out hope for more time. But as Murray’s wife Cara puts it, “you always knew the clock was ticking.”

On March 20, 2024, that clock finally stopped. Craig was 55 years old.  

Almost three months after Craig died, Murray and Cara Sinclair came to Queen’s to make a transformative announcement: they were giving $25 million to cancer research at the university. In recognition of the gift, the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute was renamed the Cara & Murray Sinclair Cancer Research Institute (SCRI).

The Sinclairs’ hope has been to use Craig’s memory and their gift to improve cancer care for others and inspire more people to support cancer research at Queen’s.  

Donations to the Cancer Research Institute Trust Fund are one way to build on that momentum. Gifts to the fund help Queen’s advance the research, facilities, clinical trials, and training needed to move promising discoveries closer to patients.

“We are all touched by cancer,” says Cara Sinclair. “And because of that we can find the collective strength and motivation to do something about it.”  

Thanks to the Sinclairs and the generosity of others who have followed their lead, SCRI is doing just that: helping bridge the gap between promising cancer discoveries and better care for patients.

Cara is still thinking about Craig and his lust for life.  

“What a strange, ironic reversal,” she says. “That somebody so ill can make you feel so buoyant by their story, that they can make you somehow feel better.”

But that’s what cancer can do, she adds.

“It can teach you so many lessons along the way. It taught us about Craig and his strength, about ourselves. And it taught us that even though the clock was ticking, if cancer research can give you more time – five, 10 years – then that can be such an incredibly positive thing.”