Christie Blatchford, 68, on Feb. 12, of cancer. Blatchford was born in Rouyn-Noranda in northwestern Quebec, moving to Toronto with her family while in high school. She followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, Andy Lytle, a sports writer at the Toronto Star and Vancouver Sun, and uncle Tommy Lytle, a former Toronto Star editor. While still attending Ryerson University, she started writing part-time for the Globe and Mail in 1972, and joined the paper a year later as a sports reporter and eventually a columnist. She moved on to the Toronto Star as a features writer in 1977, and then the Toronto Sun in 1982, where she penned a humour column before going back into hard news. In 1988, she joined the newly-launched National Post, earning a National Newspaper Award for column writing. She returned to the Globe and Mail in 2003 and then back to NP in 2011 where she finished her career. Over the years, Blatchford penned five books, including Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army. Based on a series of trips Blatchford took to Afghanistan, the book won the 2008 Governor General’s Literary Award in Non-Fiction. She was also a regular contributor to Toronto’s Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM), heard on roundtable discussions on Moore in the Morning and The Rush. Blatchford was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame last November. Newstalk 1010’s Jim Richards delivered an impassioned tribute to Blatchford on Wednesday’s show, celebrating her authenticity and influence. Listen here.
Pamela Glass, 90, on Jan. 24. Born in Ireland, Glass emigrated to Canada in 1952, working as a clerk for the Royal Bank and teaching drama and phys.ed before moving into a media career as a producer on the Dave Abbott Talk Show on CJOR Radio in Vancouver. A year later, she joined the BCTV production staff under Jack Webster. Glass would go on to an appointment as media assistant to Members of Parliament, and was later appointed Judge of the Citizenship Court of Canada. Among her many community causes, Glass was an elected Surrey School District trustee for three terms. Her media background went on to serve her well when she began working as the Press Box coordinator at the Vancouver Whitecaps Soccer Club. Over the years, Glass also served on the executive of the Irish Women’s Network, was president of the South Surrey Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of White Rock, vice-president of the Kwantlen University College Foundation, and served as a board member of Vancouver Community College, Pacific National Exhibition director, member of the Motion Picture Appeal Board, and director of the United Way, among other endeavours.
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