Sunday, August 16, 2020

A Life Well Lived

Richard Gwyn has died. I began reading his reporting as a kid, moved to his biographies of Pierre Trudeau and John A. Macdonald and tuned in regularly when he was on television. He represented the best in Canadian journalism. 

He gave up a life of privilege in Britain, Francine Kopun writes, to become an ink-stained wretch in Canada:

Gwyn was born in Bury St. Edmunds, a town northeast of London, on May 26, 1934. His father was Brigadier Philip Jermy-Gwyn, an Indian army officer, according to Robert Lewis’s book “Power, Prime Ministers and the Press.”

Gwyn attended Stonyhurst College, a private Catholic boarding school run by the Jesuits, and then Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

After Sandhurst, Gwyn embarked on a world tour and landed a radio reporting job in Halifax, followed by a job at United Press International in Ottawa, where he scored a worldwide scoop by reporting that Princess Margaret had asked that John Turner, a 29-year-old Montreal bachelor who went on to become prime minister, be added to the guest list for a ball in her honour.

As well as journalism, Gwyn worked for Eric Kierans, one of Pierre Trudeau's ministers,  a man who was not afraid to take on the boss. Gwyn got to see Ottawa from the inside. That knowledge always made him a reliable source.

His was a life well-lived.

Image: The Toronto Star


2 comments:

The Disaffected Lib said...

He was one of the very best. Such a sad day.

Owen Gray said...

I agree, Mound. One of the best.