Sorley MacLean
Sorley MacLean was born at Òsgaig on the island of Raasay on 26 October 1911; Scottish Gaelic was his first language. Before he went to school at the age of six, he spoke very little English. He was the second of five sons born to Malcolm (1880–1951) and Christina MacLean (1886–1974). The family owend a small croft and ran a tailoring business, but they later gave up the croft to move to a better house, which proved detrimental to their finances when the Great Depression took a high toll on the tailoring business. His brothers were John Maclean (1910–1970), a schoolteacher and later rector of Oban High School, who was also a piper; Calum Maclean (1915–1960), a noted folklorist and ethnographer; and Alasdair (1918–1999) and Norman (c.1917–c.1980), who became general practitioners. Sorley's two younger sisters, Isobel and Mary, were also schoolteachers. His patronymic was Somhairle mac Chaluim 'ic Chaluim 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid; he could not trace his genealogy with certainty to the eighth generation.
Vince MacLean
He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island, the son of Joseph W. MacLean and Marguerite MacNeil. MacLean grew up and lives in Sydney. He was educated at Sydney Academy, St. Francis Xavier University, the University of New Brunswick and Saint Mary's University. He served in the Canadian Officers' Training Corps at CFB Shilo in Manitoba from 1964 to 1966. In 1968, he married Natalie Furdas. He was a high school teacher at Sydney Academy before being elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1974.