AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-02 published
Collecting art was his passion
British Columbia business leader donated 800 works, worth $5-million,
to Vancouver gallery
Canadian Press and staff files Monday, June 2, 2003 - Page R7
Vancouver -- Vancouver businessman and art philanthropist J.
Ron LONGSTAFFE has died of cancer. He was 69.
While Mr. LONGSTAFFE made his name in business at Canadian Forest
Products and was also a lawyer and a Liberal Party activist,
he will be best remembered for his donation of 800 works of art,
valued at more than $5-million, to the Vancouver Art Gallery.
"One of the things I basically believe in is that art is there
to be seen and enjoyed, not squirrelled away in vaults," the
Ontario-born Mr.
LONGSTAFFE once said of his collection. "I'm
not one of those collectors who, having bought a work, says it's
all mine and nobody else can see it."
Andy SYLVESTER, a partner at the Equinox Gallery, said that over
the years, Mr.
LONGSTAFFE and his wife
Jacqueline donated a major
and significant amount of art to the Vancouver Art Gallery.
"It is almost the core of the [gallery's] contemporary Canadian
art collection," Mr.
SYLVESTER said.
At shows, Mr.
LONGSTAFFE loved to play a little game that involved
picking a work to donate to the Vancouver Art Gallery and another
to keep for a lifetime, Mr.
SYLVESTER said.
Included in the
LONGSTAFFEs' recent gift of 75 pieces of art
to the gallery are works by Robert Davidson, Gathie Falk, Simon
Tookoome, Maxwell Bates, Ann Kipling and Betty Goodwin. There
are also various works on paper by Chuck Close, Richard Hamilton,
Pablo Picasso and Alexander Calder.
Over the years, Mr.
LONGSTAFFE, who was at one time executive
director of Canadian Forest Products (now called Canfor), donated
major works to the gallery by international artists such as David
Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Paul-Emile Borduas, Charles
Gagnon and Claude Tousignant.
Born and raised in Toronto, where he attended Upper Canada College,
Mr. LONGSTAFFE went west to attend the University of British
Columbia in the mid-fifties. Even then the pattern of buying
art was already established in his life. His father had provided
all the LONGSTAFFE children with money to buy art starting when
they were 16.
During university, Ron
LONGSTAFFE told The Globe and Mail in
1985, art collecting became a way of "livening up the walls of
my apartment." Over the next decade, it became "a form of addiction,"
one that had seen him buy as many as five paintings a day.
Although he originally found the art world intimidating, he later
counted a number of artists, such as Christopher and Mary Pratt,
as Friends. He said that artists, as a group, are "more stimulating
than a lot of businessmen.... They have a wider range of interests
and are in touch with what young people are doing."
However, he remained deliberately untutored in fine-art history
and found most art criticism "unreadable," and preferred to
go with his gut instinct about work that "challenges me, stimulates
me, and that I like enough to buy."
He said he never bought art as an investment, or simply because
"it matched the drapes or looked good over the fireplace. That
I couldn't house it was no reason not to have it."
In a private tour of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the
LONGSTAFFE
donations at that time revealed a surprising variety that was
rich in contemporary art in general and French-Canadian painting
in particular (including important works by Borduas, Gagnon,
Lemieux and Tousignant). Little preference was shown for any
one artist (except for Hockney and Vasarely, represented by 17
prints each, only a few of which were on display). Sculpture
was rare. "Canada is short of really strong sculptors," he said
at the time.
In the interview he said that, although his tastes changed greatly
over the years, he intended "to collect until the day I die."
In recognition of Mr.
LONGSTAFFE's donations, the gallery's third-floor
exhibition space was named the J.R.
LONGSTAFFE
Gallery in 1983.
Senator Jack
AUSTIN said from Ottawa that he had known Mr.
LONGSTAFFE
since he was a young man in law school during the mid-1950s.
"I was his law teacher in first year -- in contracts," he said.
Sen. AUSTIN said he knew Mr.
LONGSTAFFE as a successful businessman,
an active member of the federal Liberal Party and an art collector.
"He did many things and he did them well," he said. "I can only
wish that there were more British Columbians that took part in
federal politics with his energy and initiative."
In the 1993 federal election, Mr.
LONGSTAFFE managed the campaign
of Liberal Member of Parliament Hedy
FRY, who defeated then prime
minister Kim
CAMPBELL.
His many positions included director of the Bank of Canada, vice-chairman
of the Vancouver Board of Trade, and director of the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet.
In 2001, Mr.
LONGSTAFFE was inducted into the Order of Canada.
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AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-06 published
AUSTIN,
Rosamond
Ann
(June 18, 1948 - October 5, 1997)
Those we love truly never die..
The blessed sweetness of a loving breath
Will reach our cheek all fresh through weary years.
For her who died long since, ah! waste not tears,
She's thine unto the end.
from ''Forever'' by John Boyle O'Reilly
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AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-18 published
STANFIELD, The Right Honourable Robert Lorne
Born in Truro, Nova Scotia April 11, 1914. Died of pneumonia
at the Montfort Hospital, in Ottawa December 16, 2003. Loving
husband of Anne. Father of Sarah
NYLAND,
Max
STANFIELD, Judy
and Mimi STANFIELD and their families. Stepfather of Bill and
Laurie AUSTIN and their families. Grandfather of fifteen, great-grandfather
of two. Private funeral service in Ottawa followed by family
burial service in Halifax. Flowers gratefully declined.
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AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-18 published
Party leaders pay tribute
Tories fondly remember Stanfield as best prime minister Canada
never had
By Kim LUNMAN and Drew
FAGAN,
Thursday,
December▼ 18, 2003 - Page
A10
Ottawa -- Robert Lorne
STANFIELD, the former leader of the federal
Progressive Conservatives, was remembered yesterday as a Canadian
icon.
Political tributes were made across the country for Mr.
STANFIELD,
who died Tuesday at the Montfort Hospital in Ottawa. He was 89.
He had been in poor health for several years after a stroke.
A private funeral will be held in Ottawa tomorrow and a family
burial in Halifax.
Mr. STANFIELD led the federal Progressive Conservatives from
1967 to 1976 against Pierre
TRUDEAU and was known within the
party as the greatest prime minister Canada never had. In later
years, he was regarded as the conscience of the Conservatives,
representing their progressive side on social issues.
"Today we mourn the passing of one of the most distinguished
and committed Canadians of the past half-century," said Prime
Minister Paul
MARTIN. "I, like other Canadians, fondly remember
Mr. STANFIELD's great warmth, humility and compassionate nature,
but also his intellect and humour."
Progressive Conservative Leader Peter
MacKAY said Mr.
STANFIELD
will be remembered as an icon.
"It's a very sad and poignant day. He had a larger-than-life
persona and I think he can be accurately described as an icon
in Conservative politics and Canadian politics," Mr.
MacKAY said.
"Conservatives across the country, and indeed all Canadians,
have lost a great leader and a great Canadian," Canadian Alliance
Leader Stephen
HARPER said.
In an interview yesterday, former prime minister Brian
MULRONEY
described Mr.
STANFIELD as having brought the Progressive Conservative
Party into the mainstream of modern Canadian life through his
support for the Official Languages Act and his openness to ethnic
minorities and diversity. Mr.
MULRONEY said it was appropriate
that Mr. STANFIELD had been receiving treatment at Montfort Hospital,
the French-language facility in Ottawa, considering how hard
he had worked as leader to make the Tories comfortable with bilingualism
and how much effort he himself had made to learn French. "He
was a strikingly impressive, quiet, thoughtful man, but who was
very resolved and determined -- and with a generous view of Canada,"
Mr. MULRONEY said.
When Mr. MULRONEY was prime minister from 1984 to 1993, he would
occasionally invite Mr.
STANFIELD to 24 Sussex Dr. for lunch.
Mr. MULRONEY revealed yesterday that, in the late 1980s, when
Mr. STANFIELD was almost 75, he offered him the post of Canadian
ambassador to the United Nations.
"He thought it was a great honour. He wrestled with it for a
little while, but decided that, though he would love to do it,
he thought it would be a bit much at that stage of his life,"
Mr. MULRONEY said.
"He brought compassion to politics," Nova Scotia's Premier John
HAMM said yesterday.
"He brought a love of his country to his politics."
Flora MacDONALD, a former federal Tory cabinet minister, first
worked with Mr.
STANFIELD during the 1956 provincial campaign
that made him Nova Scotia premier. "He set a very high standard
for himself as a politician and expected others to do the same,"
she said yesterday. Mr.
STANFIELD supported official bilingualism
and abolition of the death penalty when his other caucus colleagues
were strongly opposed, she said. "He didn't do things just because
they were popular. He did things because he thought they were
intrinsically right."
Governor-General Adrienne
CLARKSON said Mr.
STANFIELD "will be
remembered for his integrity, his devotion to his country, his
social conscience and especially for his wit and sense of humour."
Mr. STANFIELD was premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967. He
was born in Truro into a family famous for its underwear business
and became a lawyer before turning to politics, first provincially
and later on the federal stage. But his awkward image contrasted
sharply to that of the hip, telegenic Mr.
TRUDEAU, costing the
party every election it fought under his leadership. The 1972
election was Mr.
STANFIELD's closest brush with federal power,
when the Liberals narrowly defeated the Conservatives by 109
to 107 seats. Two years later, the Liberals regained their majority
and Mr. STANFIELD announced his decision to step down. He remained
as leader until Joe
CLARK succeeded him in 1976.
After relinquishing his seat in the Commons in 1979, Mr.
STANFIELD
became Canada's special envoy to the Middle East and North Africa
until 1980, and was chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation from
1987 to 1991.
He married three times. His first wife died in a car crash in
1954 and his second wife died of cancer in 1976. He married his
third wife, Anne Henderson
AUSTIN, in 1978. He had four children.
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AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-20 published
Ottawa bids
STANFIELD goodbye
'He was a sage.... He was quite extraordinary,' Charest says
at funeral
By Kim LUNMAN,
Saturday,
December▲ 20, 2003 - Page A9
Ottawa -- Robert
STANFIELD was fondly remembered yesterday as
a sage statesman.
The former Nova Scotia premier and federal Progressive Conservative
leader remained one of the country's most respected politicians
even years after leaving the national arena, Tory Senator Lowell
MURRAY told more than 100 mourners yesterday at Mr.
STANFIELD's
funeral in Ottawa.
"There has survived perhaps only the kernel of something, but
its essence in the Canadian consciousness -- that once, uniquely,
there was STANFIELD, leader of a major party, a man of such civility,
such humanity, such integrity, who adorned our national life,"
Mr. MURRAY said
Mr. STANFIELD, who suffered a stroke several years ago, died
Tuesday in Ottawa. He was 89.
At the private ceremony at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church,
he was remembered as a respected politician with a dry wit. He
will be buried today in Halifax's Camp Hill cemetery.
Politicians of all stripes attended the service to pay tribute.
Outside the church, Prime Minister Paul
MARTIN told reporters
his father and Mr.
STANFIELD were "great Friends. My father had
huge admiration for Mr.
STANFIELD. And I actually shudder to
think what the two of them are doing up there right now, the
amount of discussions that are going on."
Mr. MARTIN said he remembered Mr.
STANFIELD for his "great sense
of decency, integrity, and his deep, deep love of country." Progressive
Conservative
Leader
Peter
MacKAY said Canada has lost "one of
its greatest statesmen, a person who raised the standard of politics
and public service.... He was very much substance over style."
"He was a sage," Quebec Liberal Premier Jean Charest, the former
federal Tory leader, said. Mr.
STANFIELD "looked at life with
a bit of a smile, I think. He was quite extraordinary."
Governor-General Adrienne
CLARKSON called Mr.
STANFIELD remarkable,
"a man of deep conviction, a man who was decent and fair and
honest and very funny." Other political colleagues at the funeral
included former Tory prime ministers Kim
CAMPBELL and Joe
CLARK
and former Tory cabinet minister Flora
MacDONALD.
Mr. STANFIELD married three times. His first wife died in a crash
in 1954 and his second wife died of cancer in 1976. He married
his third wife, Anne Henderson
AUSTIN, in 1978. He had four children.
Even as the service was going on in Ottawa, hundreds of people
filed into the Nova Scotia legislature in Halifax to sign a book
of condolence next to a portrait of the former premier, who led
the province for 11 years, from 1956 to 1967.
Mr. STANFIELD led the federal Progressive Conservatives from
1967 to 1976 against Pierre
TRUDEAU and was known within the
party as the greatest prime minister Canada never had.
In his later years, he was regarded as the Conservatives' conscience,
representing the party's progressive side on social issues. He
supported Mr.
TRUDEAU's
Official
Languages
Act despite a revolt
by his fellow Tory members of parliament and also backed abolishing
the death penalty.
He was born in Truro into a family famous for its underwear business
and became a lawyer before turning to politics.
Bespectacled and known for his slow-speaking style, Mr.
STANFIELD
conveyed an awkward image that contrasted sharply with the youthful,
charismatic Mr. Trudeau, costing the party every election it
fought under his leadership.
But he came within two seats of office in the 1972 election when
the Liberals defeated the Conservatives by 109 to 107 seats.
Two years later, the Liberals regained their majority and Mr.
STANFIELD announced his decision to step down. He was succeeded
by Mr. CLARK in 1976.
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AUSTIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-23 published
ZEALLEY,
Mary
Lenore (née
BOYD) 1923-2003
Peacefully, surrounded by her three children, son-in-law Maurizio
and granddaughter Victoria, at The Baycrest Hospital on Sunday,
December 21, 2003. Mary Lenore
ZEALLEY (née
BOYD,) wife of the
late Kenneth Bramwell
ZEALLEY.
Loving mother of Jane Elizabeth
ADAMSON, wife of Andrew, Hartington, Ontario; Charlotte Ann
UNGER,
wife of Edward, Toronto; and John Kenneth
ANDREW, life-partner
of Maurizio, Toronto. Grandmother of Victoria
AUSTIN, wife of
Bruce; Sarah
NORMAN, wife of Jason. Great-grandmother of Jonathan
& Christopher
AUSTIN and Brock
NORMAN.
Sister of Nancy
REID,
wife of Jim; Eleanor
HOOD, wife of the late Duggan; and Carol
MacPHERSON, wife of John. She died as she had lived her life
- with dignity, passion, grace and courage. A person who loved
her city, all arts and culture, and her family and Friends. A
Memorial Service will be held at Bloor Street United Church (Bloor
Street West at Huron), Wednesday, December 24 at 2 p.m. A reception
will follow at the Church. Donations may be made to The Baycrest
Centre for Geriatric Care, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto M6A
2E1, or to Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor Street West,
Toronto M5S 1W3. Final resting place, Hillcrest Cemetery, Smiths
Falls, Ontario. The family wishes to express their deepest appreciation
for the compassionate care of the medical team at The Baycrest
Hospital, 6 East.
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