The University of Guelph is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the MacDonald Institute, the Ontario Veterinary College, has since grown to an institution of more than 32,000 students and over 1,500 faculty as of fall 2015, it offers 94 undergraduate degrees, 48 graduate programs, 6 associate degrees in many different disciplines. The Veterinary medicine program at the University of Guelph was ranked 4th in the world in 2015; the University of Guelph is ranked 4th in Canada in Maclean's "University Rankings 2018" in the Comprehensive category, which includes universities that conduct a significant degree of research and offer a wide range of undergraduate and professional degrees. It is given top marks for student satisfaction among medium-sized universities in Canada by The Globe and Mail, it has held these rankings with its reputation, innovative research-intensive programs, lively campus life cited as particular strengths.

According to the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, the university's Hospitality and Tourism Management program has Canada's highest research index. The University of Guelph has been ranked 50th by Times Higher Education in their list of the top 100 universities under 50 years old; the university has a key focus on life science and has ranked 76–100 in the world by ARWU. The faculty at the University of Guelph hold 28 Canada Research Chair positions in the research areas of natural sciences, health sciences and social sciences. Academic achievements include the first scientific validation of water on Mars, Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer on board the Curiosity rover, the Barcode of Life project for species identification; the University of Guelph traces its origins back to when the Ontario government bought 200 hectares of farmland from Frederick William Stone and opened the Ontario School of Agriculture on May 1, 1874, renamed the Ontario Agricultural College in 1880. The Experimental Farm has been part of the original project along with the museum of agriculture and horticulture.

Its first building was Moreton Lodge, located where Johnston Hall now stands, which included classrooms, residences, a library, a dining room. In 1874, the school started an apiculture department, teaching students about bees and beekeeping, in a dedicated building. In more recent years, the program has continued at the Honey Bee Research Centre located in the Arboretum, continuing research on honeybee health, providing apiculture and beekeeping courses and offering "many other educational experiences" including informative videos for beekeepers; the Macdonald Institute was established in 1903 to house women's home economics programs, nature studies, some domestic art and science. It was named after its financier, Sir William Macdonald, who worked to promote domestic sciences in rural Canada, founded Macdonald College and McGill University College; the Ontario Veterinary College, founded in Mimico in 1862, was moved to Guelph in 1922. Famous economist John Kenneth Galbraith was an undergraduate at the college.

In 1919 the Ontario Agricultural College aimed at recruiting "farm boys" with a low cost, two year program and "the lowest possible rate" for room and board. The Ontario Legislature amalgamated the three colleges into the single body of the University of Guelph on May 8, 1964; the University of Guelph Act brought about the Board of Governors to oversee administrative operations and financial management, the Senate to address academic concerns. The non-denominational graduate and undergraduate institution was, remains known for the agricultural and veterinary programs that shaped it. Wellington College was established shortly after the University of Guelph Act, five years was split three ways into the College of Arts, which exists in the present day, the College of Physical Science and the College of Social Science; the Macdonald Institute would be renamed the College of Family and Consumer Studies during the split. After this split, the University of Guelph started reorganizing into its present-day form, starting from the establishment of the College of Biological Sciences in 1971.

The College of Physical Science would be married to the OAC's School of Engineering in 1989, creating the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The College of Social Science and the College of Family and Consumer Studies were joined to create the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences in 1998; the College of Management and Economics would be established from the segregation of offered business and economic degrees and courses in 2006. The university is named after the city. Guelph comes from the Italian Guelfo and the Bavarian-Germanic Welf known as Guelf, it is a reference to the reigning British monarch at the time Guelph was founded, King George IV, whose family was from the House of Hanover, a younger branch of the House of Welf was sometimes spelled as Gwelf. The main university campus spans 412 hectares, including the 165-hectare University of Guelph Arboretum and a 12-hectare research park. Earliest examples of the campus' architecture date back to the inception of the Ontario Agricultural College and include the President's house and Raithby House, which were constructed with local limestone.

The campus has a number of notable midcentury modernist buildings in the Brutalism style, which were constructed in the 1960s as part of the school's

Horst Stemke is a retired U. S. soccer defender, a member of the U. S. soccer team at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Born in Lubin, Stemke grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, playing on the men’s soccer team from 1970 to 1973. He was a 1972 honorable mention All American and was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1967, he joined the U. S. Olympic Soccer Team for its unsuccessful qualification campaign for the 1968 Summer Olympics, he was called into the Olympic team for the 1972 Summer Olympics. This time around, he and his team mates made the Olympic tournament, he played all three games as the U. S. went 0-2-1. He ended his Olympic team career having played 16 total games with the team. Stemke has spent several decades coaching in the Green Bay area, he was a founding member of the Green Bay Lightning Youth Soccer Club and coached at Preble High School. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Adult Soccer Association Hall of Fame in 1989.

His son, Kevin Stemke was an NFL punter for several years

Ng Teng Fong was a Singaporean real estate tycoon with a major presence in Hong Kong. He is the father of Robert Ng. In 1997, Forbes listed the two as the 30th richest people in the world. Ng Teng Fong was born in a small village in Putian, China; the eldest of 11 children, he moved to Singapore with his family. Having little formal education, Ng worked at his parents’ soy sauce factory and as a bicycle repairman in his younger days, he started his first business with a provision shop and subsequently found his niche in the business of property development. Ng managed to raise enough capital to establish Far East Organization around 1960. FEO’s first residential development project was Jalan Pacheli in Serangoon Gardens, completed in 1962. Ng expanded into the hotel industry with the Singapura Forum Hotel and Hilton Singapore Hotel on Orchard Road and other residential developments at Katong and Watten Estate. By the 1980s, he was the largest private developer in the country, his influence on Singapore's prime retail property, including the development of malls such as Far East Plaza and Lucky Plaza gave him the moniker "King of Orchard Road".

He ventured into the Hong Kong property markets in 1970s. Ng's family owns the development corporations Sino Group. Far East Organization was established as an umbrella for Ng's Singapore-based companies, which includes Far East Hospitality, Far East Orchard, Yeo Hiap Seng. Hong Kong-based Sino Group is a sister group to the FEO; the group oversees 180 held developments and investment companies and two publicly-listed companies. Far East Organization is Singapore’s largest private property developer and Sino Group is a major player in Hong Kong’s property market. Despite Ng Teng Fong's vast fortune, he had a reputation for leading a miserly lifestyle. Though he controlled at least a quarter of Singapore's housing market, Ng lived in the same house he'd had for 30 years, used to take his own lunch on the airplanes. Ng suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on 23 January 2010 and, after an unsuccessful operation, died on 2 February 2010 at the age of 82. At his death, he was the richest person in Singapore.

At the time of his death, Sino Group was one of Hong Kong's largest real estate developers, Far East Organization remained one of the largest landholders in Singapore. Far East Organization owns The Fullerton Singapore and numerous other landmark hotels and other properties, his family donated $125 million in 2011 for the building of a Singaporean hospital in Jurong East and the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital was subsequently named after the late property tycoon. Ng had seven children, his eldest son, Robert Ng Chee Siong oversees the Sino Group in Hong Kong with his son Daryl. Ng's younger son, Philip Ng Chee Tat is the chief executive of Far East Organization since 1991 and served as Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador to Chile and Argentina. Robert and Philip's combined family net worth was estimated to be US$9.7 billion in 2017. The family's wealth is held through Sino Group and Far East Organization