Peter Gzowski

Peter Gzowski
CC, LLD (hc), DLitt (hc)

Peter Gzowski at CBC Radio
Born Peter John Gzowski
(1934-07-13)July 13, 1934
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died January 24, 2002(2002-01-24) (aged 67)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Peter John Gzowski (known colloquially as Mr. Canada) CC (July 13, 1934 – January 24, 2002) was a Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter, most famous for his work on the CBC radio shows This Country in the Morning and then Morningside. His first biographer argued that Gzowski's contribution to Canadian media must be considered in the context of efforts by a generation of Canadian nationalists to understand and express Canada's cultural identity.[1] Gzowski wrote books, hosted television shows, and worked at a number of newspapers and at Maclean's magazine. Gzowski was known for a friendly and warm interviewing style.

Life and career

Gzowski was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Margaret McGregor (née Young) and Harold Edward Gzowski.[2][3][4] His paternal great-great-grandfather was Polish-born Sir Casimir Gzowski, a prominent engineer.[5] Gzowski was admitted to Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto but never graduated; he was later awarded 11 honorary degrees. Midway through university, he took time off to work for the Timmins Daily Press. During his last year, 1956–57, at the U of T, he edited the student newspaper The Varsity. In the spring of 1957, he became city editor of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. After a few months in Moose Jaw, he was hired by the Chatham Daily News. In September 1958, he joined the staff of Maclean's magazine. When he was 28 he became the youngest-ever managing editor of Maclean's. In the 1960s he moved to the Toronto Star and became the last editor of The Star Weekly magazine until it was sold in 1968.

His first regular radio show was Radio Free Friday, 1969–1970. In 1971 he became host of radio the CBC's This Country in the Morning. From 1976 to 1978 he hosted the television show 90 Minutes Live on CBC Television. In 1982 he returned to his former morning radio program, which had by now been renamed Morningside, where he remained until 1997. He also narrated a few Heritage Minutes. He returned to Moose Jaw, to host his last episode of Morningside from the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort.[6] In 1986, Gzowski held the first fundraising golf tournament for literacy, a cause that was very important to him. That tournament has evolved and is now held in every province and territory of Canada and has raised more than $13-million for volunteer-based literacy programs.[7] Gzowski died of emphysema in Toronto on January 24, 2002. He had defended his smoking by saying that the taxes on his cigarettes would more than cover any increased health costs his smoking would cause. However, at the end, he publicly acknowledged that he was wrong, and that his recent healthcare expenses dwarfed the taxes he had paid.

Gzowski was divorced from his first wife, Jennie Lissaman, from Brandon, Manitoba, whom he met while residing in Moose Jaw and with whom he had five children (Alison, Maria, Peter, John and Mick). He was survived also by two common-law partners, Jan Walter and Gillian Howard, whom he called his "Partner for Life". Gzowski was the father of a son, born in 1961, from an extra-marital relationship. Following his death his remains were placed in the family tomb at St. James Cemetery in Toronto.

Honours

In music

Actually as Peter himself claimed in a 1998 CBC interview with Gordon Lightfoot the song is usually known as "Song for Canada" and its final verse is "Lonely northern rivers come together till you see One single river rolling in eternity Two nations in the land that lies along its shore But just one river, you and me"

Books

By Peter Gzowski

About Peter Gzowski

References

  1. ↑ Adria, Marco Peter Gzowski: An Electric Life (Toronto: ECW Press, 1995).
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ http://records.ancestry.com/Private_Gzowski_records.ashx?pid=131032806
  5. ↑ http://www.canada-heros.com/sungzowski.html
  6. ↑ Calgary Herald Soak up Canadian history in Saskatchewan
  7. ↑ http://www.pgicanada.ca
  8. ↑ "Peter Gzowski biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
Academic offices
Preceded by
Mary Simon		 Chancellor of Trent University
1999–2002 		Succeeded by
Roberta Bondar
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