York Memorial Collegiate Institute

Richard Jeysman

Mr. Richard Jeysman started high school at York Memorial in 1967. He has a great reputation in excelling in his academics and in the athletics department. He graduated at York Memorial in 1972 with a tremendous amount of achievements. He then continued to pursue his passion for football, gymnastics and science at the University of Toronto. There he received his bachelor’s degree in science majoring in physiology. He also graduated from Ryerson University and York University for further education in business. There he received his business certificate in marketing and executive studies in Business Administration.  

During his time at York Memorial he participated in over ten sports including basketball, cross country, football, swimming, track/field, among others. One of his proudest achievements was in gymnastics where he could be found competing for York Memorial across Ontario but also doing acrobatics for the yearly school play or celebrating a football touchdown by doing a back flip in the end zone. His athletic successes at York Memorial would, today fill a room with awards that make him one of the very best athletes that York Memorial has ever produced.

One of his highlights of playing sports at York Memorial was at the 1972 University of Toronto All-Star game in which he was a standout contributor. This led him to the University of Toronto, in physiology, where he stood out as an excellent defensive player, as well as student. His football performance and his team rose to national prominence playing in the College Bowl Championship which they lost by a narrow decision in front of 26,000 people at the CNE stadium. His football acumen at the University of Toronto caught the eye of the Hamilton Tiger Cats who selected him in the 7th round of the Canadian Football League Draft. His career in the CFL was short lived but his time in sports at York Memorial and moving forward to its culmination in the CFL taught him to “seize the opportunity and never settle”. Mr. Jeysman continued using this motto deep into his profession career.  

By luck, perseverance, intelligence, and drive, Mr. Jeysman altered the world for the better after he left the University of Toronto. He joined Sterling Drugs Ltd. where he enjoyed increasing responsibilities in sales and marketing . After serving time as a Director of Marketing, he then seize at the opportunity to build a new company in Canada. He started up the Canadian subsidiary of Ferring Pharmaceuticals from a newly start pharmaceutical business branch from Sweden into a large hundred million dollar product company ranked in the top fifty companies in Canada. As President of Ferring, he led the introduction of a number of important new medication that treat serious conditions across the therapeutic areas of Gastroenterology, Pediatrics, Urology, Obstetrics and Infertility. 

Mr. Jeysman is particularly proud of the development of a drug that aids in the post birth health of mothers. Carbetocin, a long acting analogue of oxytocin is a medicine that reduces the excessive loss of blood that occurs with percentage of women undergoing C- section and vaginal delivery of a child. Scientifically it is defined as postpartum hemorrhage. This drug is now marketed in 35 countries providing therapeutic benefit to mothers of the world who do not reside in high economic areas and where medical services are hard to come by. 

Mr. Jeysman’s drive, and confidence to take on such a challenging task leads back to his time at York Memorial where he remembers teachers like Ms. Parsons, Ms. Furlotte or Mr. Tan always taking the time for a young student who never stopped asking “why?” and saw the potential in a young student who successfully balanced himself between a life in athletics and science. 

Richard Jeysman retired in 2012. However, he is still quite active in his profession. He is a guest lecturer, mentor and an advisor to start-up companies who seek him out for his vast experience and abilities. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Liver Foundation heading up the government advocacy committee. Despite his age, he is a competitive Master swimmer with national ranking, participates in skiing and even heli-skiing on occasion. Overall, he is enjoying his retirement inspiring those who have the honour to interview him, and he is now a proud grandfather to a newly born baby girl—Madison.