George Garrett, 89, on March 18. Raised on a farm near Chaplin, SK, Garrett got his start in broadcasting at CJNB North Battleford in 1954, before a short stint at 800 CHAB Moose Jaw, where he had auditioned years earlier as a 15-year-old. By age 20, he had joined CKNW in New Westminster, BC, where his 43-year run with the station began in 1956. His dogged pursuit of local stories in the Lower Mainland and insatiable curiosity earned him a reputation as an “Intrepid Reporter,” the title of his 2019 memoir. Garrett was known for his risk-taking and willingness to go undercover to get a scoop, including baring it all to get an interview with a local nudist colony. Among other big stories, he became an authority on the Clifford Olsen child serial murders in the early 1980s and was infamously a victim of an assault during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992 that left him with a broken jaw and subsequent titanium plate. He retired from the station in 1999. Over the years, he received many accolades for his work, including the Jack Webster Foundation’s Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more here.
Andrew Martens, 91, on Feb. 21. Martens spent the early part of his career with CBC as a producer, working on broadcasts from Hockey Night in Canada and the 1972 Summit Series to touring with the Irish Rovers producing their overseas specials and coordinating the public broadcaster’s coverage of the Royal visits. After retiring from the CBC, Martens undertook numerous entrepreneurial ventures with his children ranging from real estate development to running a chain of optical stores and a hotel.
