Don McGowan, 85, on Feb. 27, following a brief illness. McGowan’s foray into broadcasting started in 1957, at the age of 19, as an announcer at CKX-TV in Brandon, MB after receiving a recommendation from the organist at his Outremont, Que. church whose brothers worked at the station. McGowan went on to hold positions in Quebec City and Cornwall, ON before joining CFCF-12 (now CTV) Montreal in 1962. McGowan served as a weatherman, announcer, and host of travel series, “McGowan’s World” and “Travel, Travel.” For many years, he also held the title of Executive Producer at CFCF. He retired from the station in 1998 and had been living in Brockville, ON for the last 20 years.
Kerri Wynne MacLeod, 57, on Feb. 26, following an ongoing illness. Originally from Montague, PEI, MacLeod was a local stage performer and singer, prior to joining Newcap Radio in 2001 where she was heard on CHTN-AM Charlottetown. She helped launch the Ocean 100 morning show, alongside longtime co-host Kirk MacKinnon in 2006, when CHTN launched on FM. Memorial donations can be made to the Holland College Foundation for the Olivia Ruth MacLeod Memorial Award for Music Performance. Read more here.
Gordon Pinsent, 92, on Feb. 25. Originally from Grand Falls, NL, Pinsent started acting in stage plays in his teens and taking roles in CBC Radio dramas, before doing a stint with the Canadian Army. He had returned to acting by 1957 with roles on stage in Winnipeg, Toronto and Stratford. Parts in Canadian soap opera “Scarlett Hill” and CBC/ITC series “The Forest Rangers” followed, the start of a long film and television career that would include starring roles in films like “Away From Her” (2006), “The Shipping News” (2001), and “The Grand Seduction” (2013) and recurring parts in series, including “Due South,” “Republic of Doyle,” and “The Red Green Show.” Pinsent’s work with CBC Radio One over the years included documentary series “The Late Show,” a summer replacement that aired for three years in the late 2000s, featuring obituaries of notable but not universally known Canadians. Pinsent was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979 and promoted to Companion in 1998. He received the Earle Grey Award recognizing lifetime achievement in television in 1997, and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2007, in addition to numerous Genie, Gemini, and ACTRA awards.
Kent Matheson, 64, on Feb. 23, of cancer. Raised in Port Hope, ON, Matheson “jobbed out” at the beginning of his second year at Loyalist College to take a job with CKIX-FM St. John’s, NL in 1982. He went on to a 12-year run with CFQM-FM Moncton as Music Director where he received both Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) nominations for Music Director of the Year and a nomination for East Coast Music Association (ECMA) Broadcast Personality of the Year. In 2008, he returned to Ontario to work with Moose FM (CKLP-FM) Parry Sound where he served as the station’s morning show host and for a time, program director. Matheson worked with Vista Radio for a total of 24 years, also heard on its Moose FM stations in Kapuskasing and Timmins.
