BLOCK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-22 published
Trumpeter ran jazz club
By Mark MILLER
Thursday,
May 22, 2003 - Page R7
Toronto -- He was the voice of doom.
Every so often, out of the blue, he would call.
"Mark," he barked loudly into the telephone. "Paul Grosney,"
he continued, his voice dropping on the third syllable. "We've
lost another one."
And now we've lost Paul
GROSNEY.
The
Toronto trumpet player who
kept the local community informed of deaths in the world of jazz
has himself passed away. He died Saturday in his sleep at his
Toronto home. He was 80.
An amiably gruff man with the proverbial heart of gold, Mr.
GROSNEY
liked to be in the know. As a teenager in his native Winnipeg,
he would make the acquaintance of the American musicians who
passed through town -- members of vibraphonist Red Norvo's band,
for example, which played a fortnight at the Odd Fellows Hall.
"In those two weeks," Mr.
GROSNEY remembered in 1994, "I got
to know those guys very well. I got them up in the morning and
put them to bed at night."
Mr. GROSNEY, who was born on February 10, 1924, spent some time
in Toronto and New York after travelling overseas with an Royal
Canadian Air Force variety show during the Second World War.
Later, he served as the bandleader in several Winnipeg nightclubs,
notably the Rancho Don Carlos, where he played for many important
American entertainers.
In 1959, he returned to Toronto and continued his career in hotel,
theatre and studio orchestras. He also ran a booking agency and
acted as music director from 1973 to 1984 for the now-legendary
jazz club Bourbon Street, where he matched visiting American
stars with local rhythm sections.
In later years, Mr.
GROSNEY led his own jazz group, the Kansas
City Local, and was a featured soloist with other Dixieland and
Swing orchestras. His recordings include the 1998 Compact Disk
I'm Just Wild About Harry, a tribute to the American trumpeter
Harry James.
Mr. GROSNEY's connections extended beyond music to show business
more generally. He enjoyed a second career writing sketch material
for Canadian and U.S. television variety shows, including The
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Bizarre.
He leaves his son Michael and sister Jeanette
BLOCK.
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BLOCK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-05 published
BLOCK,
Matthew
Alexander
Tragically died of injuries sustained when struck by a car on
Hallowe'en evening. Matthew passed away peacefully with his family
by his side at the McMaster Medical Centre on Saturday, November
1, 2003. He was 12 years old.
Matthew BLOCK
(Cambridge,
Ontario) is the cherished
son of Kelly
(née FLOOD) and Robert
BROOK, dear brother of Stephen, Kevin,
Andrew, Caitlin and Jenny, friend of Brent, and precious grand_son
of Ellen and Denis
CASE,
Dennis and Patricia
FLOOD, Stanley and
Evelyn BROOK. He will also be sadly missed by his great aunts
and uncles.
Loved nephew of Sheryl
FLOOD and Douglas
RITCHIE,
Christopher
CASE,
Leslie (née
CASE) and Rodney
GIEBLER, Debbie and Jerry
and Dave and Denise; and cousins Nicole and Alexander. Special
friend of Keith, Lena, Zeo and Matthew
BENNETT;
Ted and Joe
GIBBONS
Doreen BROWN and Lloyd
STEWARD/STEWART/STUART; and all of his many Friends and
their families.
Matthew was a student at St. Joseph's School in Cambridge, and
he enjoyed playing left wing with Hespler Minor Hockey. Matthew
was also an aspiring chef who shared his passion for cooking
with all who knew him.
We wish to thank all those who have given us their love and support,
and we offer our heartfelt gratitude to the staff at Cambridge
Memorial Hospital, McMaster Medical Centre, and specifically
Dr. Holly SMITH,
Nancy
FRAM, and Chaplin Steve. We were comforted
to know that Matthew gave the gift of life to seven families
through organ donation.
Our dear Matthew will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
It was a great joy and honour to have shared 12 years with him.
Friends will be received on Tuesday and Wednesday from 6: 00-9:00
p.m. at Littles Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 223 Main Street
East, Cambridge www.funeralscanada.com Mass of Christian Burial
will be celebrated at St. Clements R.C. Church, 745 Duke Street,
Cambridge on Thursday, November 6th at 10: 00 a.m. Cremation to
follow. In memory of Matthew, donations would be appreciated
to ''Kids Can Play'' and to the school that he loved, St. Joseph's
in Preston, for any educational needs.
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BLOCK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-13 published
BLOCK,
Renee
Renata, M.S.W.
Died peacefully in her home in the presence of her family on
Monday, November 10, 2003. Devoted and loving mother of David
and Anita. Cherished by her many Friends. A superlative Social
Worker. Predeceased by her brother Theo. Sincere thanks to the
Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care and the Bayview Community
Hospice. A graveside gathering will be held at 2: 00 p.m. on Saturday,
November 15th at Mount Pleasant Cemetery; meet outside the Cemetery
Office at 1: 30 p.m. A Celebration of Renata's life will take
place at a time to be announced. In lieu of flowers, a donation
in Renata's memory can be made to Amnesty International, Toronto
Rape Crisis Centre, Water Can, Toronto Humane Society. Arrangements
entrusted to The Simple Alternative Funeral Centre, 416-441-1580.
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BLOOM o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-08 published
Observers hail
ASPER contribution
But views on Israel and direction of news coverage also provoked
controversy
By Richard
BLOOM and Paul
WALDIE
Wednesday,
October 8, 2003 -
Page B7
In its early days, CanWest Global Communications Corp. may have
had the dubious moniker of The Love Boat network, but there is
no doubt Izzy
ASPER made "very significant" contributions to
Canadian media, industry observers said yesterday.
At the same time, his actions as head of the media empire weren't
without controversy.
Mr. ASPER died yesterday at 71. A tax lawyer by training, he
is more commonly known as the founder of Winnipeg-based CanWest
the parent of the Global network of television stations, and
which, in 2000, engineered a multibillion-dollar purchase of
Southam Newspaper Group, National Post and other assets from
Conrad BLACK's
Hollinger
Inc.
Glenn O'FARRELL, president and chief executive officer of the
Canadian
Association of Broadcasters, said Mr.
ASPER left a huge
broadcasting legacy.
"The Canadian broadcasting system has been built over the last
number of decades through the efforts of some fairly significant
entrepreneurs, and Izzy
ASPER was clearly one of those," Mr.
O'FARRELL said. "He brought an incredibly astute vision of what
could be done and what should be done in the name of strengthening
Canada's place both domestically and internationally."
Mr. O'FARRELL worked at CanWest for 12 years and said working
for Mr. ASPER was stimulating. "It was absolutely a privilege
to work with somebody who possessed the depth and the breadth
of his intellectual curiosity and interests."
Mr. ASPER also provoked controversy over the years with his views
on Israel and his drive to converge news coverage at CanWest's
newspapers.
In 2002, he fired Russell
MILLS, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen,
after an apparent conflict over editorial independence. At the
time, CanWest forced papers across the chain to carry editorials
written by officials in the company's head office. The policy
sparked a barrage of complaints about a lack of editorial freedom
at the papers. The removal of Mr.
MILLS prompted a wave of protests
against CanWest from Parliament to media organizations around
the world. Mr.
MILLS sued and reached a settlement with the company
a few months later.
Mr. ASPER's staunch defence of Israel also left him open to charges
that CanWest's papers do not fairly cover events in the Middle
East. In a speech last year, he attacked media coverage of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and accused several media outlets
of having an anti-Israel bias. He singled out coverage by
CNN,
The New York Times, British Broadcasting Corp. and Canadian Broadcasting
Corp. and said anti-Israel bias was a "cancer" destroying media
credibility.
He has often criticized the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in particular
for what he has called the broadcaster's anti-Israel coverage.
Yesterday, a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. official declined to
comment on Mr.
ASPER's views.
Still, amid the controversy, Christopher
DORNAN, director of
Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication,
praised Mr.
ASPER's role in Canadian journalism.
"We're still, in the entertainment area, overshadowed by the
exports of the juggernaut to the south. What's really ours is
non-fiction, it's journalism... in as much as Israel
ASPER built
CanWest into a major, major player in that sector, his contribution
is clearly significant."
Added Mr. DORNAN: "
There are uncharitable souls that would argue
that CanWest's contribution to the Canadian cultural landscape
was negligible.
"Because when CanWest built itself as a network, in the early
days, it was known as The Love Boat Network -- all they did was
buy cheap, populist American programming, got ratings and contributed
very little to Canadian cultural production. They made very little
programming of their own and what they did make was in grudging
compliance with Canadian content regulations," he said.
Mr. DORNAN argued that the Canadian media industry is not about
keeping the Americans at bay, but instead about funnelling in
highly desired American content in the most advantageous way
possible.
Mr. ASPER built a television network that now employs "people
from network executives to janitors. Those jobs would not have
existed had he not done that. And now, of course, they do actually
make some programming," Mr.
DORNAN said.
Vince CARLIN, chairman of the School of Journalism at Ryerson
University in Toronto, agreed, noting that history books won't
likely describe him as a great endorser of Canadian culture.
"That's not what he was about. He was a businessman," said Mr.
CARLIN, the former head of Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Newsworld,
who had met with Mr.
ASPER on numerous occasions.
"He learned how to use those [business] skills to create very
dynamic business enterprises, but [CanWest] would never put cultural
considerations ahead of business considerations," Mr.
CARLIN
said.
He explained how in his company's early days, Mr.
ASPER insisted
to government officials that his chain of television stations
was not a "network" but instead a "system," because being dubbed
a network was less advantageous from a business perspective.
When regulations shifted, Mr.
ASPER changed gears, calling the
stations a network, Mr.
CARLIN said.
Mr. ASPER was also involved in a bitter legal battle with Robert
LANTOS, a prominent Toronto-based filmmaker. Mr.
ASPER sued Mr.
LANTOS for libel over comments he made during a speech in 1998.
In the speech, Mr.
LANTOS described Mr.
ASPER as "the forces
of darkness, whose greed is surpassed only by their hypocrisy."
Mr. ASPER said the comments left the impression he was dishonest
and disloyal.
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