John F. Templeton is Professor Emeritus in the University of Manitoba's College of Pharmacy. He was born in 1936 in Curling, Newfoundland (now a part of Corner Brook). Templeton studied Chemistry at the Memorial University of Newfoundland earning a B.Sc. (Honours) in 1956 and a M.Sc. (Forbes) in 1957. He was awarded a Rothermere Fellowship and studied at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of London, England where he received the Diploma of Imperial College (DIC). He then achieved a Ph.D from the University of London.

Templeton did postdoctoral work at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1961 to 1962, Brandeis University from 1962 to 1964, and the University of London from 1964 to 1967. He joined the School of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba in 1967. He was made full professor in 1975.

According to the Chemistry Department newsletter of the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dr. Templeton's research "has been directed towards the study of structure-metabolism relationships, the synthesis of steroid enzyme inhibitors of potential value in the treatment of hormone dependent cancers, and on the cardiotonic structure-activity relationships between the plant cardiac glycosides and hormonal steroids, latterly in relation to an endogenous human digitalis equivalent" and he "gained an international reputation for his research on the organic and medicinal chemistry of steroids."

In 2001, Templeton was given a Doctor of Science by the University of London. In 2002 he was made Professor Emeritus by the College of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba.