DORAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-31 published
Peg ROBERTS
By Pat ROBERTS
Thursday,
July 31, 2003 - Page A24
Wife, mother, theatre director and founder. Born May 27, 1919,
in Brandon, Manitoba Died April 2 in Toronto, of cancer, aged
Peggy DORAN grew up in Brandon, Manitoba, and graduated from
Brandon College before training as a nurse at Montreal's Royal
Victoria Hospital during the Second World War. She did not like
being a nurse, however. She had wanted to purse a career in the
theatre and to study it at university. Her parents would not
allow that; acting and theatre were seen as beneath the dignity
of the only child of a well-to-do dentist from United Empire
Loyalist stock. Nonetheless, her first theatrical success came
at age 20, when she directed the Brandon Little Theatre production
of Send Her Victorious, winning top honours in the Manitoba Drama
Festival.
Peg worked as a nurse for just over a year. In 1945, she married
Dennis ROBERTS, whom she had met in high school. They then moved
to a tiny apartment in Toronto while he completed his psychology
degree at the University of Toronto. In 1950, they moved to Sudbury,
Ontario where Dennis became the city's first psychologist. As
a couple, they played an active role in the city's educational
and cultural life until Dennis' death in 1985.
The Sudbury Little Theatre Guild, founded in 1948, gave Peg the
opportunity to "do theatre," and she made the most of it. Between
1950 and 1956, she gave birth to two children, directed four
plays, acted in a fifth, and was twice president of the guild.
Plays she directed include Blithe Spirit, The Importance of Being
Earnest, The Glass Menagerie, and Antigone, which won the Edgar
Stone Trophy for Direction at the Dominion Drama Festival in
Toronto in 1955. That play coincided with her final pregnancy.
The cast reportedly encouraged her to name the baby Antigone,
if it was a girl.
Her production of The Importance of Being Earnest also made it
to the national Dominion Drama Festival finals. Although it did
not win, the adjudicators reviewed it quite favourably, noting
that the colours for the production -- white, black and yellow
were playwright Oscar Wilde's favourites. Peg's production
of that play might have been the world (or at least Canadian)
premiere of a recently discovered scene, cut from the final text
of the play, which Peg obtained after reading of its discovery.
A frequent leading man in those early days, Al
HEMREND, recalls
that Peg was "ahead of her time. She took risks and chose plays
that were very difficult."
As president of the Sudbury Little Theatre Guild in the 1956-57
season, Peg successfully petitioned the Dominion Drama Festival
to create a new region. Thus, in 1957, the Quebec-Ontario Theatre
Association region was formed, with Peg as its first regional
chair.
As Sudbury grew, Peg was one of those who saw a need for a professional
theatre company in the city. She was instrumental in the founding
of the Sudbury Theatre Centre as a member of the planning study
group and of the first board of directors (known as "the Five
Fools").
Peg was also enthusiastic about bringing theatre to young people,
and was a drama consultant for the Sudbury Secondary School Board
in the 1970s.
She loved to entertain, and our house was often filled with guests.
Each party was "staged," complete with costumes and sets (furniture
arranged and rearranged, flowers, candles, crystal, linen or
lace table cloths). She often served dishes she had never made
before, with sometimes dubious, sometimes wonderful results.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, Peg moved back to Toronto
in 1998. Cancer was something she could not stage-manage, direct,
or control. Her motto until her death became: "rage, rage against
the dying of the light."
She is survived by her three children: Judy, Steve, and Pat,
and granddaughter, Charlotte.
Pat (not Antigone)
ROBERTS is Peg's daughter.
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DORCOG o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-02-25 published
STOBIE,
Alexander
Malcolm, M.A., M.D. (Oxon,)
DORCOG, born 21
February, 1922 in Oxford, England, died peacefully on 23 February,
2003 at Cobourg, Ontario. Malcolm led a colourful, exciting and
fulfilling life. A graduate of Clifton College, Bristol; St.
Andrew's University, Scotland; and University of Oxford where
he gained a Rugby blue as Captain, and M.A. and M.D. degrees
before and after serving in the Royal Navy, which included command
of a minesweeper in the North Sea, Malcolm and Stephanie emigrated
to Canada in 1957 with their young family, settling in Brantford
where they were involved in amateur theatre and Malcolm played
on the local cricket and rugby teams, inculcating his young sons
in the process. After a short sojourn back in England, in 1962,
Malcolm and his family returned to Canada, settling in the Colborne/Cobourg
area. While in Colborne, Malcolm helped found the village rugby
team, cleared a barren field for a pitch, and proceeded to welcome
rugby teams from around the province, who all enjoyed great games
and great times at the family house. Malcolm's change of medical
practice to Cobourg brought him a new set of Friends and patients
while retaining his Colborne connections. In Cobourg, Malcolm
co-founded the Cobourg Yacht Club and regularly raced his 16
foot Albacore against all comers, with both willing and unwilling
family members as crew. Malcolm was a dynamic, intelligent, and
energizing person; no one felt untouched by his presence. His
family and Friends shall miss him most dearly. His declining
years were spent peacefully at Streamway Villa, Cobourg where
every attention and care was received. Malcolm leaves his children
Anthony, Jonathan, Jane and David, and their partners; grandchildren
Christopher, Patrick, Rebecca, Emily, Elizabeth, Matthew, David
and Margaret; his ex-wife Stephanie and his previously-deceased
wife, Janet. Visitation with Malcom's family will be held on
Friday, February 28, 2003, 2-4 p.m. at the MacCoubrey Funeral
Home, 30 King St. East, Cobourg, Ontario with a private family
service to follow in Aurora. If desired, donations in Malcolm's
memory may be directed to the Northumberland Health Care Foundation.
Condolences to maccoubrey@sympatico.ca
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DORE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-16 published
Brian Melville
DORE,
University of Toronto Schools 1980, B.A.
Hons. University of Toronto Victoria College 1985, LL.B. University
of British Columbia Law 1990, Called To The Bar In 1991, Crown
Counsel, Quesnel, British Columbia 1992-1995, Abbotsford, British
Columbia, 1995 - 2003. Born January 26th, 1962, died May 13th,
2003 at Trillium Health Centre Mississauga Site, as the result
of a battle with cancer. Only
son of Donna Melville Dore
PATTERSON.
Grandson of Emma
MELVILLE and the late Temple A.
MELVILLE.
Nephew
of Doug and Suzie
MELVILLE.
Brian will be sadly missed by his
many Friends and colleagues. Cremation has taken place. A memorial
service will be held in the Chapel of the Morley Bedford Funeral
Home, 159 Eglinton Ave. W. (2 stoplights west of Yonge St.) on
Saturday, May 24th, 2003 at 3: 00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations
to the charity of one's choice would be appreciated.
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DORNAN 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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