"MUL" 2003 Obituary

MULHOLLAND  MULLERBECK  MULLIGAN  MULRONEY 

MULHOLLAND o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-06 published
PYE, John
Dear stepson of Connie PYE of Burnley, Lancashire, United Kingdom, and dear friend of David MULHOLLAND and dear friend of and to so many over the years at Saint Thomas Anglican Church (Huron Street), where he was head of the Acolyte Guild at St. Andrew's by the Lake where he served so ably as a lay assistant along with the Mission to Seafarers in the Port of Toronto. His intelligence, wit, charm and at times caustic honesty were all hallmarks of a good life nobly lived with integrity, grace and always a sense of fun. John died March 4th, 2003 4 days after his 76 birthday. His passing is a great sadness to so many but his life is greatly celebrated and an occasion for Thanksgiving. Solemn Requiem Mass at Saint Thomas Anglican Church (383 Huron Street, south of Bloor), at 11: 30 a.m., followed by a reception. Donations to Mission to Seafarers.

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MULLERBECK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-09 published
MULLERBECK, Karl
Died suddenly and peacefully while shovelling snow at his residence on Monday, April 7, 2003. Karl MULLERBECK, beloved husband of Aino. Loving father of Eric. Doting grandfather of Kristjan and Andres. Brother of Eva in Sweden. Other relatives and Friends survive in U.S.A., Sweden, Estonia and Canada. Resting at the Murray E. Newbigging Funeral Home, 733 Mt. Pleasant Road (south of Eglinton) on Thursday, April 10 from 7-9 p.m. Funeral and Committal Service in St. Peter's Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, 817 Mt. Pleasant Road on Friday at 11 a.m. Cremation. If desired, donations may be made to St. Peter's Church.

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MULLIGAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-30 published
Harry Cawthorpe Daniel KIERANS Died suddenly 25 July 2003.
Born Seven weeks early and weighing only 4lbs. 2 oz., 20th March, 1953 in Toronto, Harry clung to life and eventually joined his large family in Sudbury, Ontario. Although never as robust as his siblings, Harry earned all but four credits on his Bachelor of Arts degree. While at York University, he was stricken with schizophrenia at age 19, so severely that he was hospitalized in Vancouver from time to time where he had moved to be closer to his family. Cherished Husband and best friend of Silvana MONNO for 21 years and very proud father of his loyal son Christopher. Beloved son of Thomas Wm. KIERANS, (Saint John's) and Mary (MULLIGAN) KIERANS, Coquitlam and dearly loved brother of Sr. Mae KIERANS, North Bay, Tom (MariJo) Montreal, Murray, Collingwood, Brenda WAHLEN (Len), Coquitlam, Michael, (Dagmar), Prague, Teresa SPURR (Jim), Coquitlam, Kathleen WALKER, Vancouver, and Paul, Burnaby. Harry's family have been especially supported by Rosa and Vitto MILILLO. Harry will be sadly missed by many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. In Spite of his long and debilitating illness, Harry held onto his senses: sense of family, sense of loyalty, and sense of humour. Harry's determined effort to live with dignity and grace under a very heavy burden will always be remembered with loving pride by his family who thank God for the great gift his life has been to all of us. Prayers will be offered on Wednesday, July 30, 2003 at 8: 00 p.m. from the chapel of Forest Lawn Funeral Home 3789 Royal Oak Avenue, Burnaby. Funeral Service will be held Thursday, July 31, 2003 at 10: 30 a.m. from Our Lady of Fatima Parish 315 Walker Street, Coquitlam. In lieu of flowers, donation may be made to the Christopher Kierans trust fund at the funeral, or to a mental health charity of your choice. 'Good night sweet prince: and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest'

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-01-22 published
She danced on tabletops of Ottawa
Former reporter with capital connections hosted parties for the powerful and waged a spirited campaign to save railway cabooses
By Randy RAY Special to The Globe and Mail Wednesday, January 22, 2003, Page R5
Most who knew her have a story to tell about Starr SOLOMON, a journalist and public-relations practitioner who for years hosted glamorous parties in Ottawa that attracted a who's who of cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and media people.
Ms. SOLOMON, the widow of Hy SOLOMON, former Ottawa bureau chief for The Financial Post, has died in Toronto. She was 64.
Long-time friend and colleague Walter GRAY/GREY remembers the time Ms. SOLOMON convinced former Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY and Liberal Member of Parliament Sheila COPPS -- for years Mr. MULRONEY's nemesis -- to sing together at the National Press Club in Ottawa in the mid-1980s, following the annual Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner.
"They sang a duet. The song was You Made Me Love You," says Mr. GRAY/GREY, a former Globe and Mail bureau chief in Ottawa, who played the piano while the two politicians crooned in tandem. Ms. COPPS is now Canada's heritage minister.
Edna HAMPTON, one of Ms. SOLOMON's closest Friends, said acquaintances, colleagues and politicians always looked forward to dinner parties at the SOLOMON home in Ottawa's trendy Glebe neighbourhood. Trouble was, you never knew when the meal would be served.
"I always used to eat first because the parties would zip along and she would let dinner go. You might eat at 8, you might eat at 11 . . . but you always knew the food would be good," said Ms. HAMPTON, a retired journalist.
Ms. SOLOMON was born in Ottawa and moved to North Bay, Ontario, as a child, where she attended elementary and high school. In the late 1950s, she landed a reporting job with The North Bay Nugget, where Ms. HAMPTON was a senior reporter at the time. Later, The Ottawa Citizen hired her as a reporter and she wrote under the byline Starr COTE, the surname of her first husband.
"She was always full of energy and fond of fun assignments," recalls Ms. HAMPTON. " She would cover anything from a royal tour to a St. Patrick's Day event up the Ottawa Valley."
Among her plum assignments was the visit to Ottawa by U.S. president John F. KENNEDY and his wife, Jacqueline. She also wrote restaurant reviews for The Citizen, where she developed a reputation as a lively writer who was quick-witted, entertaining and personal. Ms. SOLOMON often fought it out for the big local stories with Joyce FAIRBAIRN, a reporter with the now-defunct Ottawa Journal. Ms. FAIRBAIRN later became a Senator.
Ms. SOLOMON left The Citizen in the mid-1960s and moved to Toronto, where she worked with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a writer/producer. She married Mr. SOLOMON on January 23, 1966. The couple lived in Toronto until Mr. SOLOMON was transferred to Washington to open a bureau for The Financial Post.
When the SOLOMONs returned to Ottawa, Ms. SOLOMON and a partner formed a public-relations firm. She quickly became a fixture in the city's media and political circles, a move Mr. GRAY/GREY calls "networking at its best. She had a wide range of Friends and she used these connections to her greatest advantage. I wish I had her Rolodex."
For about 10 years in the 1980s, Ms. SOLOMON and Mr. GRAY/GREY worked at the same public-relations firm, where they teamed up on a variety of projects.
"There was the day the African chief Butelezi arrived in Ottawa as a front for a group of Canadian businesses trying to develop business relations with South Africa. I was assigned to shepherd the chief around town," says Mr. GRAY/GREY. " Starr was to accompany his lady, the lovely Princess Irene, whose sole interest was to shop -- especially at Zellers. As they made their departure laden down with Zellers bags. I think the princess gave Starr a tip for her services."
The pair also worked together on an unsuccessful campaign to stop the Canadian National Railway from eliminating railway cabooses. "The cabooses disappeared, but to this day, the Save the Caboose sweatshirt has been the most comfortable sweatshirt in our respective wardrobes," says Mr. GRAY/GREY.
Over the years Ms. SOLOMON volunteered her public-relations skills for many campaigns. She was a founding member of the Legal Education and Action Fund, which was established to advance women's equality rights, and served on the board of directors of the Ottawa Civic Hospital.
As a couple, the SOLOMONs were known in Ottawa for throwing glamorous parties, some planned, some spontaneous, that attracted the leading cabinet ministers, writers and journalists of the day. Ms. SOLOMON entertained and amused guests with her wit and political insights, while her husband was an engaging conversationalist whose business and political insights held the attention of politicians and bureaucrats.
Those who attended their soirees remember Ms. SOLOMON as a welcoming hostess and terrific cook, whose specialty was Greek and Mediterranean dishes. When guests arrived, she was always beautifully dressed and "the records were on the turntable," recalls Mr. GRAY/GREY. " Patsy Cline was her favourite. But also lots of jazz -- her friend Brian Browne, Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones." Often guests would sing and dance around the SOLOMONs' dining-room table.
"We did have serious discussions on serious subjects, from time to time," adds Mr. GRAY/GREY.
Former Ottawa Citizen food editor and restaurant reviewer Kathleen WALKER remembers Ms. SOLOMON as "literally . . . the kind of person who danced on tabletops. She was just wonderful and wild. We had a ball together. Great sense of humour. A terrific lady."
She will also be remembered as a great friend "who was there in thick and thin if you had a problem," says Mr. GRAY/GREY.
After her husband died in 1991, Ms. SOLOMON moved back to Toronto, where she did volunteer consulting and public relations work for various organizations, including Legal Education and Action Fund and a Greek nursing home. She was also a trustee of the Hyman SOLOMON Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism, established to honour her husband's legacy.
Ms. SOLOMON leaves her two sons, Adam and Ben, two grandchildren and two brothers. A celebration of her life is to be held at the National Press Club in Ottawa on January 29 at 5: 30 p.m.
Starr SOLOMON, journalist, public-relations specialist; born Ottawa, February 27, 1938; died Toronto, January 3, 2003.

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-19 published
'His heart was always in the labour movement'
United Auto Workers director and Canadian Labour Congress president, he was one of labour's most influential leaders
By Allison LAWLOR Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - Page R7
He went from the assembly line to the lofty heights of union leadership. Dennis McDERMOTT, who died last month at age 80, was one of Canada's most influential labour leaders throughout the 1970s and 1980s as Canadian director of the United Auto Workers and later president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Mr. McDERMOTT's life in the labour movement began in 1948 when he started work as an assembler and welder at the Massey Harris (later Massey Ferguson) plant in Toronto. He joined United Auto Workers Local 439 and quickly rose through the ranks.
"He had a lot of pizzazz, said Bob WHITE/WHYTE, former president of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Canadian Labour Congress. "He had a good sense of what was good for working people."
After a 38-year career in the Canadian labour movement, Mr. McDERMOTT was made Canadian ambassador to Ireland in 1986 by Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY. Mr. McDERMOTT received some criticism within the labour movement for the appointment, but he made no apologies.
"I didn't cross the floor and become a Conservative. I am a social democrat and will continue to be a social democrat, " he said at the time. "I will continue to act and speak as a trade unionist, Mr. McDERMOTT said in 1986 after accepting his appointment.
Mr. McDERMOTT was known for his sharp tongue and had a particularly abrasive relationship with former prime minister Pierre TRUDEAU. He fought against the anti-inflation policies of the Trudeau government, in particular wage and price controls.
On November 21, 1981, Mr. McDERMOTT led a massive rally on Parliament Hill, said to be the largest such demonstration in Canadian history. About 100,000 people protested against the oppressive burden of high interest rates that created high unemployment and economic instability.
Behind his combative style, Mr. McDERMOTT had a strong intellect and a talent for building consensus. As Canadian Labour Congress president, he was able to reach out to other groups and build a coalition among various social interests in Canada in pursuit of common goals.
"I am confrontational. When I have to play hardball, I play hardball. But I can be just as conciliatory as anyone else. I can walk with the bat or I can walk with the olive branch. It depends on what's happening, Mr. McDERMOTT once told a reporter.
Dennis McDERMOTT was born on November 3, 1922, in Portsmouth, England. He was the eldest of three children to his Irish parents John and Beatrice McDERMOTT. Growing up poor, Mr. McDERMOTT learned firsthand about some of life's injustices. As a young boy in the church choir, Mr. McDERMOTT remembered being left behind on the bus while the rest of the choir performed at a concert because his family was too poor to buy him a uniform, said his wife, Claire McDERMOTT.
Mr. McDERMOTT left school at age 14 to become a butcher's helper. Two years later, he joined the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, he served on a destroyer escort travelling on convoy duty to different parts of Europe and sometimes to the Russian port of Murmansk. In 1947, he left the navy to work in a Scottish coal mine before coming the Canada.
After landing a job at Massey Harris in Toronto, Mr. McDERMOTT quickly became involved in the United Auto Workers. Small in stature, but with a quick mind and wit, he became a budding leader.
"He was very impressive, said Bromley ARMSTRONG, a civil and human-rights activist who worked with Mr. McDERMOTT at Massey Harris. "He held rapt attention."
During his first year in the union, Mr. McDERMOTT worked on the Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance, which successfully lobbied to help bring about Ontario's first piece of human-rights legislation, the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1948.
His work in human rights continued throughout his career. He later served on the executive of the Toronto Committee for Human Rights and as a member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. He was awarded the Order of Ontario for his work in the trade-union and human-rights movements. After serving in several positions in the United Auto Workers Local 439, Mr. McDERMOTT became a full-time organizer for the union in 1954. He was made subregional director of the Toronto area in 1960, a position he held until being elected Canadian director of the United Auto Workers in 1968. During his first year as Canadian director, he moved the union headquarters from Windsor, Ontario, to Toronto.
"He started down the road towards more autonomy for the Canadian union, and he reached out to all points of view inside the union, Mr. WHITE/WHYTE said. (In 1985, the Canadian arm of the United Auto Workers broke away to form its own union -- the Canadian Auto Workers,)
"Dennis McDERMOTT raised the profile of the Canadian labour movement to new heights, said Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz HARGROVE. "He was a tough and effective negotiator at the bargaining table, but he also took on the key social and political issues of the day."
Mr. HARGROVE added that his friend and colleague "always had a vision for the movement."
Mr. McDERMOTT was a strong supporter of American Cesar CHAVEZ and the United Farm Workers. He led a contingent of Canadians to California and also organized a march in Toronto to raise money for Mr. CHAVEZ.
Elected Canadian Labour Congress president in 1978, Mr. McDERMOTT served in that position until his retirement in 1986. When asked by a reporter what he considered his prime accomplishment, he pointed to the labour congress. "I think putting the Canadian Labour Congress on the map. Before I came there, it was pretty low profile. You never heard of it. I was kind of proud of that, Mr. McDERMOTT said in a 1989 interview with The Toronto Star.
McDERMOTT also broadened the Canadian Labour Congress's role in international affairs. He was a member of the executive board of the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers and served as vice-president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
"His heart was always in the labour movement, Ms. McDERMOTT said. During his three years as ambassador to Ireland in the late 1980s, Mr. McDERMOTT made headlines when he lashed out at Irish government officials for giving better treatment to singer Michael Jackson's pet chimpanzee than the McDERMOTT's Great Dane, Murphy. Mr. Jackson's chimp was whisked into the country while Murphy had to endure six months of quarantine. The dog died shortly after being freed.
Mr. McDERMOTT enjoyed both writing and painting. While in Ireland, he sold a few of his paintings. One of his short stories, about his war experiences, was published in The Toronto Star as part of the newspaper's short-story contest.
Returning from Ireland, Mr. McDERMOTT retired and spent his time between a home near Peterborough, Ontario, and a place in Florida. He continued to paint and write. His letters to the editor frequently appeared in newspapers.
"He lived an incredible life if you think of where he came from, Mr. WHITE/WHYTE said. "He would be the first to say that he was fortunate."
Mr. McDERMOTT died on February 13 in a Peterborough hospital. He had been suffering from a lung disease. He leaves his wife Claire and five children.
A memorial service will be held on March 24 at 1 p.m. at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge Street, Toronto.

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-10 published
The Globe was his church'
The editor-in-chief was mentor to journalists, defender of social policies, respected by those criticized in print, and described as a man with a 'warm human touch'
By Michael VALPY Thursday, April 10, 2003 - Page R11
In his two decades as editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, former senator Richard (Dic) James DOYLE wielded a journalistic influence in Canadian public life matched only by that of George BROWN, the newspaper's founder.
He died yesterday in Toronto, one month past his 80th birthday. His wife of 50 years, Florence, passed away on March 20.
Senator DOYLE -- editor from 1963 to 1983 -- gave the newspaper a boldly independent voice, loosening up its then lock-step support for the Progressive Conservative Party.
Under his direction, the newspaper would praise a government one day and lambaste it the next. He was a passionate defender of civil liberties, intensely engaged in the development of Canada's social policies throughout the 1960s and 1970s and as much concerned with the powerless in Canadian society as the powerful.
"In the time I've been editor," he once said, "we've not supported any party in office. I think we make whomever we support uncomfortable. We're the kind of friend you could do without."
He once said he felt more intellectually comfortable with Pierre TRUDEAU than all the prime ministers he knew, and one of his favourite editorial cartoons was one he suggested after overhearing his daughter Judith talking to a friend in her bedroom. It showed two teenage girls sitting on a bed under a poster of Mr. TRUDEAU. One girl says to the other: "He's not 50 like your father's 50."
His views, although stamped on the editorial page, were never imposed on his reporters. He was concerned with a story's news value -- not the fallout -- and he expected his staff to act with the same concern.
He wanted The Globe to be a writer's newspaper and gave his writers autonomy, even when their views went against his own philosophies. He had a special place in his heart for columnists who expressed contradictory opinions.
The young writers invited to attend the buffet lunches he gave regularly for prime ministers, premiers and cabinet ministers, bank presidents and giants of the arts were treated to superb tutorials in the life of their nation that left an indelible mark on their minds.
Warm, funny, theatrical and gregarious, he was a mentor and model for many of Canada's best-known journalists -- among them, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Michael ENRIGHT and Don NEWMAN, former Globe and Maclean's managing editor Geoffrey STEVENS, his successor as Globe editor Norman WEBSTER, and former foreign correspondent, dance critic and now master of the University of Toronto's Massey College, John FRASER.
"He was absolutely fearless," Mr. STEVENS said yesterday. "He did tough stuff. He did important stuff. And he refused to bow to pressure from business, from politicians and for that matter from journalists. I didn't always agree with him, but I always, always respected what he said."
Mr. FRASER said: "He was an editor who made young journalists' dreams come true. Like many who came under his spell at The Globe and Mail, I will go to my grave grateful for the horizons he opened up to me."
George BAIN, for years The Globe's Ottawa columnist, recalled the only time Senator DOYLE actually complained about something Mr. BAIN had written was when he filed an end-piece to a royal tour and suggested that the institution wasn't appropriate to the Canadian circumstances.
"Dic, as a devoted monarchist, was moved to say, 'Did you have to?' The fact is I felt I did -- and he, despite strong feelings, didn't say, 'You can't.' "
When Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY appointed him to the Senate in 1985, he decided to sit as a Conservative out of courtesy.
Mr. MULRONEY described him yesterday as "a marvellous man, rigorous, thoughtful, with a disciplined approach to life and a very warm human touch to everything he did.
"When he cut people up, including me, there was no malice to it, no ad hominem attack, he was never bitter or partisan in any way.'The full impact of Senator DOYLE's presence as editor was probably first felt by The Globe's readers on March 20, 1964, when a front-page editorial appeared under the heading, Bill of Wrongs.
It was prompted by legislation proposed by Ontario's Conservative attorney-general, Frederick CASS, which empowered the Ontario Police Commission to summon any person for questioning in secret deprive him of legal advice; and keep him in prison indefinitely if he refused to answer.
"For the public good," the editorial stated, the Ontario Government "proposes to trample upon the Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, the Canadian Bill of Rights and the Rule of Law.
"Are we in... the Canada of 1964 -- or in the Germany of 1934?
"This legislation is supposed to be directed against organized crime. In fact, it is directed against every man and woman in the province."
Soon after, Mr. CASS resigned.
Senator DOYLE's skills as a writer were particularly evident on an election night when the paper would present an editorial on the results between editions. Alastair LAWRIE, now retired as an editorial writer, recalled that once the results were known, Senator DOYLE would stand in silent thought for maybe a minute and a half and then start to dictate. In a matter of a few minutes, he would complete a reasoned editorial that scarcely required the addition of a comma.
Senator DOYLE preferred to work in anonymity, only accepting honorary degrees and later the seat in the Senate near the end of his newspaper career.
He sat on no boards, belonged to no important clubs, almost never appeared on television or radio, didn't sign petitions and seldom gave speeches. When he met a politician, there were usually witnesses.
He didn't hold a driver's licence and for years arrived at the old Globe office on King Street by streetcar. When The Globe moved to its present office on Front Street, Senator DOYLE took a taxi.
Retired Ottawa Citizen publisher Clark DAVEY, a former managing editor of The Globe and a close friend of Senator DOYLE, suspected "he didn't trust his Irish temper [to drive] and that was probably to the common good."
Mr. DAVEY said Senator DOYLE's low public profile "was part of his own protection against conflicts on his own part. The Globe was his church. Journalism was his religion.
"I think that Dic, in the context of his time, probably had a greater influence on Canadian journalism than any other single individual," Mr. DAVEY said.
"It was Dic's execution that made the Report on Business what it became and is. He was the moving force from within The Globe often unseen -- in the whole question of conflicts of interest as they affected journalists.
"He was really the wellspring of that kind of thinking and, of course, what The Globe did affected very directly what a lot of other organizations did."
Born in Toronto on March 10, 1923, Dic DOYLE seemed destined to get ink on his hands. He said in 1985 that he had decided on a newspaper career at age 7 and joined the Chatham Daily News as a sports reporter after he graduated from Chatham Collegiate Institute. He was promoted to sports editor, city editor and then news editor.
During the Second World War, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served with the 115 (Bomber) Squadron (Royal Air Force) at Ely, near Cambridge in England. He was discharged at the end of the war with the rank of flying officer.
He was 23 and felt that life was passing him by, so rather than attending university, as other returning air-force officers were doing, he returned to the Chatham paper. It was a decision he said he later regretted.
He came to The Globe in 1951, initially as a copy editor, the only job available. His first byline appeared in The Globe in December of 1952 over a story about milk bottles.
In the same year, he also wrote a book called The Royal Story, a labour of love that proved to be a standard treatment of the monarchy, and which he was the first to acknowledge, replowed already well-tilled soil.
(The Royal family had a special status at The Globe under Senator DOYLE. One former senior editor, the legendary Martin LYNCH, told of being taken off the front-page layout after he replaced a picture of Princess Margaret, which appeared in early editions, with a photograph of a prize-winning pig.
When The Globe decided to publish a weekly supplement in 1957, Senator DOYLE became its first editor, with a staff that had no experience in the weekly field. The paper was laid out on the carpet of the managing editor's office after he had gone home.
It shrunk over the years because, Mr. DOYLE said, it was ahead of its time. It died in 1971.
From there, in 1959, he became managing editor of the newspaper and then editor in 1963. He stepped aside in 1983 to take on the role of editor emeritus and to write a column -- an experience, he said two years later, that left him chastened. "The guy [columnist] out there has his problems."
Former Globe publisher A. Roy MEGARRY, said, "In my opinion, no one -- including the seven publishers that Dic has served with during his time at the paper -- had made a more positive and lasting impression on The Globe than he has."
Likely among the greatest tributes paid to him as an editor came from the Kent Commission established by the federal government in 1980 to investigate the ownership of Canada's daily newspapers after the Ottawa Journal and the Winnipeg Tribune folded in virtually simultaneous moves by the Thomson and Southam chains.
In its report, the commission credited Senator DOYLE with "adhering to an ideal of press freedom that often tends to get lost in the management of newspapers....
"To a great extent, the editor-in-chief of The Globe belongs to a breed which unfortunately is on its way to extinction.
"The Globe and Mail testifies to the influence that continues to be exerted by a newspaper with a clearly defined idea of its role and substantial editorial resources. It is read by almost three-quarters of the country's most important decision-makers in all parts of Canada and at all levels of government. More than 90 per cent of media executives read it regularly and it tends to set the pace for other news organizations."
The Globe and Mail was bought by Thomson Newspapers in 1980. Senator DOYLE made no secret of the fact that he would have preferred having the newspaper bought by R. Howard Webster, who owned it before it became part of the Financial Post chain. However, in 1985 he said that Thomson was the best alternative among the others in the field.
When Prime Minister MULRONEY named him to the Senate, he became the first active Globe journalist to receive such an appointment since George BROWN in 1873. As an editor and a columnist, Senator DOYLE had often preached Senate reform and had opposed patronage appointments.
His acceptance prompted a flow of letters to the editor that favoured and disapproved of the appointment in about equal measure.Senator DOYLE is survived by his children Judith and Sean and his granddaughter Kaelan MYERSCOUGH. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
DOYLE, The Honourable Richard James, O.C. Died peacefully on April 8, 2003 in the Toronto Hospital in his 80th year. Dic DOYLE was born on March 10th, 1923 in Toronto and moved with his parents, Lillian and James DOYLE, to Chatham, Ontario where he attended McKeough Public School and the Chatham Collegiate Institute with his brothers William and Francis and his sister, Ruby Louise KEIL, all of whom predeceased him. He would want us to mention that he was the grand_son of Fan Gibson HILTS who taught him when he was ten to draw parallel columns on brown wrapping paper and to write stories to fill them. In January 1940, he joined the reporting staff of the Chatham Daily News where he remained until 1942 when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. After training in Vancouver and Nova Scotia, he joined 115 Squadron Royal Air Force Bomber Command. He was engaged in operations in the European Theatre until the war's end when his crew was assigned to the movement of Canadian Prisoners of War from liberated camps to the United Kingdom. He retired from the Royal Canadian Air Force with the rank of flying officer. In the summer of 1945, DOYLE returned to the Chatham Daily News as city editor. Apart from a one-year stint at a public relations job at the Canada and Dominion Sugar Company, he remained at the Chatham News until 1951 when he was hired as a copy reader at The Globe and Mail in Toronto. He married the lovely Florence CHANDA in Chatham in 1953, and they moved together to Toronto, taking a small apartment on Harbord Street where the University of Toronto Robarts Library now stands. They moved to the Beaches before their children Judith and Sean arrived in the late 1950's. Subsequent jobs at The Globe and Mail included Night City Editor, Editor of the newly-launched Weekly Globe and Mail. When he was called to the Senate of Canada in 1985, he had been editor of the paper for 20 years - a longer period than that served by any editor other than the paper's founder. In the course of that service he received honourary doctorates from St. Francis Xavier and King's College Universities, and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. In his years in the Senate, DOYLE was active in a number of committees, in particular the Internal Economy and Legal and Constitutional Committees. When Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY asked DOYLE to come to Ottawa, he was aware of his record in print as a Senate critic. He invited the editor to share with others in an on-going campaign to enhance the effectiveness of the Upper Chamber in the Parliamentary process. When DOYLE left the Senate, he recalled the challenge and insisted the goal was within sight. Richard DOYLE was the author of two books, The Royal Story and Hurly Burly: A Time at the Globe. He was named to the Canadian Newspaper Hall of Fame. Richard DOYLE is survived by his children Judith and Sean, and his granddaughter Kaelan MYERSCOUGH. After celebrating their 50th anniversary in January of this year, Dic's beloved wife Flo passed away suddenly and peacefully on March 20. They were parted for less than three weeks. Funeral service will be held at Trinity College Chapel, 6 Hoskin Avenue, on Wednesday, April 16 at 2: 30 p.m. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, 20 Holly Street, Suite 101, Toronto M4S 3B1.

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-07 published
Bureaucrat 'invaluable' to ministers
Analyst was a key negotiator in talks that led to the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995
By Bill GLADSTONE Special▼ to The Globe and Mail Saturday, June 7, 2003 - Page F11
Gerry SHANNON could have been a professional hockey player like his father, but decided instead to play in a much bigger arena.
Mr. SHANNON went on to become a top career public servant who helped to formulate the federal government's policies on international trade. At one time, he held the No. 2 posting in the Canadian embassy in Washington and was a key negotiator in the talks known as the Uruguay Round, which led to the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995.
Mr. SHANNON, who died recently in Vancouver at the age of 67, is remembered as a fair, tough and passionate trade-policy analyst who was a trusted adviser to ministers in the successive cabinets of Pierre TRUDEAU and Brian MULRONEY in the 1980s.
"Gerry was a larger-than-life character," said Peter SUTHERLAND, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization. "He played a crucial role in the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. He had a belief in the multilateral system that he combined with an intense Canadian patriotism. His personality was also a factor in bringing peaceful resolution to difficult negotiations."
"He was a straightforward guy -- you always knew where you stood with him," said Marc Lalonde, a former Liberal finance minister. "He was a man with a very solid judgment. He was a good team player in that regard, the kind of guy you would want to have as a senior public servant."
Born in Ottawa in 1935, Mr. SHANNON received an early lesson from his father -- hockey player Jerry SHANNON, who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and other National Hockey League teams -- on the necessity of appearing strong, no matter what. Once, after a puck knocked out the boy's two front teeth, his father shouted, "Get up, son, shake it off!" Young Gerry did so and stayed in the game.
The same spirit of toughness also probably helped him cope with the death of his mother when he was 10.
Despite an offer to try out for the Bruins, Mr. SHANNON took his father's advice and went to university. Graduating from Carleton University's school of journalism, he worked as a reporter for the Sudbury Star for several years before lifting his sights once again. He wrote a foreign-service exam and was accepted as a diplomat in 1963. "He realized that being a small-town reporter was great and he enjoyed it, but he wanted to be involved in the big world," said his wife, Anne Park SHANNON.
His first posting was in Washington, where, despite any formal training as an economist, he handled matters of trade and economic policy. "He was good at pursuing Canadian interests with the Americans. They liked him," Ms. Park SHANNON said. "He was very affable and very good at just getting to the essence of things."
He also served as Canada's senior foreign affairs representative in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, and as ambassador to Korea, one of Canada's youngest ambassadors at the time.
In the mid-1970s, at the height of the Trudeau era, he became director of commercial policy for the department of external affairs. After several years, he returned to Washington as the embassy's second-in-command at a time when Canada's national energy program generated heated discussions.
Recalled to Ottawa about 1982, he became the assistant deputy minister of finance for the Liberals, then deputy minister of international trade for the Progressive Conservatives. In these capacities, he advised Mr. LALONDE and Tory ministers Michael WILSON and Barbara McDOUGALL.
"He was a very professional public servant, he had a sense of professionalism, he had a very good mind, he was tough, and he understood very well the role of the senior public servant, " Ms. McDOUGALL said. "He never tried to be the minister and he was a straight shooter, which many of us appreciated when we realized that this was the exception and not the rule.
"I worked with a lot of great public servants, but he was certainly right up at the top," she said.
Anne Marie DOYLE, who worked extensively with Mr. SHANNON in various government departments, recalls that he would go out on a limb for employees when he thought that they were in the right, and he possessed "iron in his spine" that made his superiors respect him as steadfast and trustworthy.
"He had this phenomenal gift -- the ability to take a very complex problem, see to its core and express it in just two or three very articulate sentences so that someone like a minister or prime minister would have found him just invaluable," she said. "They would have his complex briefing and he would say, 'Well, Minister, what it boils down to is just this, ' and it would be just brilliant."
Mr. SHANNON was "one of the giants of Canadian trade policy of the '80s and '90s," said Bill DYMOND, executive director of the Centre for Trade Policy and Law at Carleton University. "The politicians trusted him because he was blunt, honest and loyal to the government."
Known for his enthusiasm and for being indefatigable on the job, Mr. SHANNON performed an astonishing array of official duties while in Geneva from 1989 to 1995. As Canada's chief negotiator for the Uruguay Round, he developed a binding dispute-settlement system that was hailed as a major breakthrough. He was Canada's first ambassador to the World Trade Organization as he had been to its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
As an occasional ambassador to the United Nations, he gave to its committee on disarmament the " SHANNON mandate," a significant negotiating protocol still in use today.
Mr. SHANNON was known as a loyal defender of Canadian interests. Soon after leaving government in 1995 to work as an international trade policy consultant, he wrote an article for The Globe and Mail on Canada's seemingly never-ending softwood-lumber dispute with the United States.
"We always get roughed up in dealing alone with the Americans on issues they deem to be critical to them," he observed. "They simply have too many guns and they persevere until they win."
Mr. SHANNON enjoyed hiking, gardening, opera, travelling, dogs, crossword puzzles and playing hockey.
He and his wife moved from Ottawa to Victoria about a year ago with the intent of retiring there. He was sick only a few weeks before he died on April 26.
He leaves his wife, Anne Park SHANNON, and sons Michael and Steven from a previous marriage. He also leaves a sister, Carol SCHWARZ, of Ottawa.

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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-26 published
A scholar and a gentle man
'Fine example of a great Canadian' who founded Ontario's Brock University was once private secretary to prime minister Mackenzie KING
By Ron CSILLAG, Special to The Globe and Mail Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - Page R9
In an almost Zen-like fashion, James GIBSON knew the value of not acting. In the late 1960s, when a group of student radicals seized part of Brock University, hoping to be dragged away kicking and screaming, Dr. GIBSON, who had helped found the institution a few years earlier, reacted in a way no other university president did when faced with the same problem: He did nothing. The protesters, he reasoned, may have had legitimate grievances, but their unseemly actions offended his firm sense of propriety. In time, the students simply went away.
It was an effective, though uncharacteristic, action for a man who embodied Brock's Latin motto: "Surgite," freely translated as "push on." That he did, through some 65 rich years of advancing higher education and in public service, most notably as a private secretary to former prime minister Mackenzie KING, whose penchant for soothsaying and assorted eccentricities Dr. GIBSON kept mainly to himself until later in life.
Just five days before his death in Ottawa on October 23 at the age of 91, Dr. GIBSON was doing what he loved: Watching a new group of graduates receive their diplomas at the fall convocation of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, the school he had launched as founding president in 1963.
At a recent memorial service at Brock, David ATKINSON, the university's president and vice-chancellor, recalled a man whose attributes a strong moral fibre, clarity of thought and a general uprightness, all tempered by a warm and gentle touch -- harkened to a quaint, bygone era. "It's unlikely we will meet anyone like him again," Dr. ATKINSON said.
In the House of Commons on October 27, Dr. GIBSON was praised by St. Catharines Liberal member of parliament Walt LASTEWKA as "a fine example of a great Canadian."
Dr. GIBSON, whose knowledge of Canadian history and government were legend, was in the news this past summer as the oldest of over 1,000 Rhodes Scholars who flew to England for a five-day bash honouring the centenary of the trust. With his brother William, also a Rhodes Scholar, Dr. GIBSON dedicated a re-leaded stained-glass window at the chapel of Oxford's New College.
A normally discreet man, he had sharp words for former prime minister Brian MULRONEY, not an Oxford graduate, who surprised guests at the alumni dinner -- and raised a few eyebrows -- when he took a seat on the podium alongside Oxonians Bill CLINTON and Tony BLAIR, and guest Nelson MANDELA. Many alumni, Dr. GIBSON included, felt that Mr. MULRONEY, who had been invited by The Independent newspaper chain, had no business being there. Though upset, Dr. GIBSON retained his dignity, saying simply, "I was offended."
James Alexander GIBSON was born in Ottawa, in 1912, to Canadian-born parents of Irish-Scottish stock with strong Methodist and Quaker leanings. Raised in Victoria, he graduated with a B.A. in history from the University of British Columbia at age 18. Less than a year later, he was one of the youngest boys at Oxford.
"That was the real dividing line in my life," he told The Globe and Mail last July. "The economic depression was beginning to take over and some of the graduates in my year at University of British Columbia ended up digging ditches, but I had a guaranteed income for three years."
The annual stipend was only £400 but it enabled Dr. GIBSON to live comfortably and travel to the rest of Europe when he wasn't studying modern history, debating in the Oxford Union Society and keeping wicket for the New College cricket squad, the Nomads.
Back in Ottawa and armed with a doctorate in history, he joined the Department of External Affairs. On his second day on the job, he was whisked to the prime minister's office for a six-month secondment that lasted nine years. Mr. KING, who was also External Affairs minister, blocked Dr. GIBSON's promotions to postings abroad three times because "he told me I stopped him getting into trouble."
The prime minister was a notorious taskmaster, calling on his assistant to work most evenings and weekends to draft letters and speeches. Throughout, "Dad never complained about anything," said his daughter Julia MATTHEWS. " But as he got older, he loosened up a little."
According to his daughter, he came to describe the famously erratic leader as "a very grumpy man and a very lonely man, insensitive, and quite damaging to work for."
Ultimately, it occurred to the clan that perhaps the unmarried prime minister was simply jealous of Dr. GIBSON's status as a beloved family man and father of three children. "Whenever we went on a family holiday, Dad always got called back," remembered Ms. MATTHEWS.
But a high point came in the spring of 1945, when Dr. GIBSON accompanied Mr. KING and 380 other delegates to San Francisco and the founding of the United Nations. During the historic two-month conference, Dr. GIBSON got personal glimpses of such leaders as the Soviet Union's Andrei GROMYKO and Britain's Anthony EDEN, but the task at hand, he later recalled, was to keep the Canadian prime minister "on the rails."
Fearing he would never advance in the public service, Dr. GIBSON resigned in 1947 and took a teaching post at Ottawa's Carleton University, where he later served as the first dean of arts and science and deputy to the president. By the early 1960s, he was courted by a group of community leaders in the Niagara peninsula to establish Brock University. When he began as founding president, the school had seven faculty (known as "the magnificent seven"), 29 students and a "library" consisting of a shelf of books. Today, it boasts more than 15,000 students and 47,000 alumni.
His first order of business at Brock was the creation of a library.
Now housed in the campus's Schmon Tower, it has become something of a landmark on the Niagara Escarpment. Dr. GIBSON, fondly known by faculty as "James A.," remained as Brock's president until 1974. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1992, and the library was named after him in 1996.
He was also a leading figure in the Unitarian faith, serving for a time as chaplain of the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara.
Asked what dinner-table conversation was like at home, Ms. MATTHEWS sighed good-naturedly. "Oh, God. There was a lot of current events. He had all the answers. He was always lecturing, but he could be really charming." Even after his vision started to fail, he travelled, read and wrote. "He never felt old."
After moving from his beloved St. Catharines to an Ottawa retirement home, Dr. GIBSON lectured residents on "governors-general I have known."
Dr. GIBSON was predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Caroline (née STEIN,) and leaves three children, seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, his brother, and a sister, Isobel SEARLS.
His final days were summed up poetically by Josephine MEEKER, a former professor at Brock. After attending the university's convocation last month, Dr. GIBSON "went for a long walk, returned to his residence, went into the lounge area, took off his coat and folded it up, put it on the back of his chair, sat down, folded his hands in his lap, closed his eyes, and died."

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MULRONEY 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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MULRONEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-30 published
Diplomat shaped cultural policy
Art-loving ambassador to Moscow and Bucharest also served as Trudeau's press secretary and as a director of the Canada Council
By Bill GLADSTONE, Special▲ to The Globe and Mail Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - Page R7
Peter ROBERTS, a former press secretary to Pierre Trudeau who served as Canada's ambassador to Moscow and Bucharest and as director of the Canada Council, is being remembered as a major shaper of Canadian cultural policy and a late representative of an older generation of broadly based, multitalented diplomats that has all but vanished from the scene.
A native Albertan, Mr. ROBERTS died in Ottawa on November 21 after a varied career that stretched over four decades and included stints in Washington, Hong Kong, Saigon and Brussels. He was 76.
As assistant undersecretary of state responsible for cultural affairs from 1973 to 1979, he helped Ottawa develop protective policies toward the domestic film and book-publishing industries, and was instrumental in drafting the government's nationalistic Bill C-58, which applied tariffs to American magazines sold on Canadian newsstands. He also helped to establish the National Arts Centre.
"He was a superb civil servant because he had a capacity to listen to ministers, understand their viewpoints and help them achieve what they wanted to achieve," said John ROBERTS (no relation,) who was Secretary of State when Peter ROBERTS was undersecretary. "But at the same time, he had an extraordinary passion for the arts and for culture. So he did have his own ideas about things that should be done. He stimulated you to think and to adapt your thinking."
As ambassador to the Soviet Union, Mr. ROBERTS took a keen interest in George COSTAKIS, a former junior employee of the Canadian embassy who had spent a lifetime amassing an outstanding but illegal collection of modern art, both Russian and international. Mr. ROBERTS helped arrange a major exhibition of the collection at the Musée des beaux-arts in Montreal and later wrote a full-length biography, George Costakis: A Russian Life in Art, published by Carleton University Press in 1994.
Raising Eyebrows, a book of memoirs and character sketches, was published in 2000. He also wrote a book-length profile of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, whom he met often during his posting in Bucharest from 1979 to 1983, and who was executed in 1989. The book, Revenge on Christmas Day: Fact and Fiction in Bucharest, is slated for publication in 2004.
"Peter was a multifaceted person who bridged the cultural world, the literary world, the academic world and the world of the foreign service," said Allan GOTLIEB, a former ambassador to Washington. "If you go back to the golden age of Canadian diplomacy, you find examples of these very broadly engaged minds. Peter joined a little later, in the 1950s, but he still seemed a part of that era."
Peter McLaren ROBERTS was born in Calgary on July 5, 1927, and grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta. His father was a locally stationed federal tax official, his mother a schoolteacher. A brilliant student, he earned an M.A. in English literature from the University of Alberta in 1951, as well as a Rhodes scholarship that enabled him to study for three years at Oxford.
Afterward, he went down to London with a group of Friends, including Mr. GOTLIEB, who convinced him to write the Canadian foreign-service exam. He did so on a whim -- and passed. He taught English literature for a year at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, and joined the foreign service in 1955.
Initially stationed in Ottawa, Mr. ROBERTS began studying German in anticipation of a posting in Bonn or Vienna. "The department had just then begun to realize that it was an advantage for a foreign-service officer, and for Canada, if the officer knew the language of the country where he or she was working," he noted in Raising Eyebrows.
"I hear you're learning German," the personnel manager remarked to him one day.
"Yes."
"You must be interested in languages."
"Yes."
"How'd you like to learn Russian?"
Several months later he travelled by ship and train to Moscow, where he served as third-in-command of the Canadian embassy from 1955 to 1958. He was posted to Hong Kong and Vietnam in the early 1960s and to Washington for the rest of that tumultuous decade.
In 1970, the Prime Minister's Office essentially borrowed him from the Department of External Affairs, as it was then known, so he could serve as assistant press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre TRUDEAU. Returning to Canada after a nine-year absence that had included a dreary stint working for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, Mr. ROBERTS showed up for his first day of work -- just as the Front de libération du Québec hostage crisis was erupting. Marc LALONDE, Mr. TRUDEAU's principal secretary, asked him to represent him at a strategy-planning meeting with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"I had been long enough in diplomacy to know that this was a situation in which one did not speak without instructions," Mr. ROBERTS would recall. "I had no instructions, and I hadn't the faintest idea what the prime minister's views were on this abrupt development. I promised I would listen, make notes, report, and phone everyone. That I did, but I was glad that I had not ventured to predict which way TRUDEAU would jump. It was only a few days later that the troops were in Montreal, suspects rounded up and in jail, the War Measures Act proclaimed, and the prime minister saying to the press, 'Just watch me.' By that time I was veteran and expert."
After that baptism by fire, Mr. ROBERTS became full press secretary and met daily with Mr. TRUDEAU, often advising him on issues that the Prime Minister may have considered unimportant, and sometimes having the sobering thrill of hearing his words repeated verbatim to reporters later in the day. It was Mr. ROBERTS himself who announced the Prime Minister's marriage to an "incredulous" press gallery on March 4, 1971, and the birth of a son on Christmas Day.
External Affairs reclaimed Mr. ROBERTS in 1972 and parachuted him into the cultural division of the Department of the Secretary of State. The new assistant undersecretary awoke at 4 every morning and studied for three hours before going to work, but even with a "marvellous staff" who "filled in for me when I was stupid or ignorant," he sometimes found the learning curve excessively steep.
"Gradually my diplomatic experience came into play," he would write. "Diplomacy is partly a matter of faking. If you don't know the answer, if you don't know who someone is, don't let on. Smile enigmatically, and change the subject to the situation in Peru. I did a lot of that at the Secretary of State."
Mr. ROBERTS learned Romanian before becoming that country's ambassador in 1979, and found that the effort had been worthwhile because it gave him exceptionally good access to Mr. Ceausescu, who seemed flattered that a Canadian could speak his language; the leader would dismiss his retinue of advisers and translators and meet with Mr. ROBERTS alone to discuss a variety of political issues ranging from the situation in Poland to the situation in Quebec. Mr. ROBERTS enjoyed the meetings but understood that he was dealing with "the most desperate dictator and tyrant in Europe" and one who was becoming increasingly unhinged.
Among the visitors to Bucharest during that time was Allan GOTLIEB, by then undersecretary of state for External Affairs, who recalled being feted with Mr. ROBERTS by their Romanian hosts at a deluxe and crowded restaurant, where they washed down wonderful steaks with equally wonderful wines. The next evening, seeking a place for dinner, he suggested they return to the same establishment. "He told me, 'It's not there any more -- it's not real,' " Mr. GOTLIEB recalled. "He said, 'They opened it just for you.' He took me back there and it was all boarded up. There wasn't a soul there. It was like one of those Russian Potemkin villages you hear about."
As Soviet ambassador, Mr. ROBERTS joined Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY's entourage for the funeral of general secretary Konstantin Chernenko in Moscow in 1985. Like most other world leaders present, Mr. MULRONEY was keenly interested in meeting the incoming general secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, and so was "predictably enraged" when the appointment was abruptly cancelled because an inept bureaucrat had overfilled Mr. Gorbachev's daybook with appointments. Persuading Mr. MULRONEY to be patient, Mr. ROBERTS quickly convinced the Soviets to rectify the error, and the meeting occurred in the Kremlin as originally planned.
Six months later, Mr. MULRONEY expressed his gratitude to Mr. ROBERTS by summoning him back to Ottawa to head the Canada Council. Fascinated as always by the Soviets, Mr. ROBERTS was reluctant to go, but realized he could not refuse.
"He was sad because Gorbachev had just come to power, and things were just beginning to show signs of change," recalls his wife, Glenna ROBERTS.
"He left with a great deal of regret, because he was really interested in seeing those changes."
Mr. ROBERTS retired from the Canada Council in 1989 and was an adjunct research professor of political science at Ottawa's Carleton University from 1990. He was diagnosed about 10 years ago with the cancer that increasingly incapacitated him over the past year.
He leaves his second wife Glenna, children Frances and Jeremy and their families, sister Mary, stepchildren Graham, Brendan and Hannah REID.

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