MCROBERT
MCROBERTS
MCRORY
MCROSTIE
MCROW
McROBERT o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-11-27 published
ULMER,
Lillian
Gertrude (formerly
BROWN)
Peacefully at Bluewater Health Mitton St. Site, Sarnia on Friday,
November 24, 2006 Lillian Gertrude
ULMER, age 79 of Sarnia. Lillian
was a member of the St. Clair Sarnia Optimist Club and longtime
member and treasurer of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of
the Empire Much loved wife of Allan
ULMER.
Loved mother of Karen
CRAMP of Tiverton, Paul
BROWN
(Monique) of Sarnia and dear stepmother
of Trina ULMER
(Charles
MacKINNON) of Sarnia, Kim
ULMER (Kirk
DOUGHERTY) of Ottawa, Mike
ULMER
(Agnes
BONGERS) of Hamilton,
Jennifer ULMER
(Phil
GERVAIS) of Ottawa. Loving grandmother of
Roy and Wayne
CRAMP,
Keith and Eric
BROWN, Matthew
TSAPOITIS,
Kyle and Aimee
MacKINNON,
Megan and Emma
DOUGHERTY, Sadie,
Hannah
and Madalyn
ULMER,
Wade,
Tessa and Grace
GERVAIS, great-grandmother
of William
CRAMP and Gavin
MacKINNON. Dear sister of Charles
(Florence)
McROBERT,
Gordon
(Doreen)
McROBERT, and Don (Mary)
McROBERT all of Granton. Predeceased by her first husband Edwin
BROWN of London (1970,) a daughter Cheryl
BROWN of Uxbridge (2005)
and a son-in-law Bill
CRAMP of Tiverton (1996.) The funeral service
will be held on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 at 11: 00 a.m. at Redeemer
Lutheran Church, 429 Indian Road N. (at Hickory), Sarnia. A graveside
service will be held at 3: 30 p.m. at Birr Cemetery, Highway #4,
north of London. Family and Friends will be received at Smith
Funeral Home, 1576 London Line, Sarnia on Monday afternoon from
2 to 4 p.m. and evening from 7 to 9 p.m. Memorial donations may
be made to the Charity of your Choice. Memories and condolences
may be sent on line at www.smithfuneralhome.ca
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-03-04 published
McROBERTS,
G.
Macklin▼ "
Mack▼"
At his late residence, on Friday, March 3, 2006 G. Macklin (Mack)
McROBERTS of Bryanston in his 66th year. Dear son of the late
Graydon and Ila
(CARMICHAEL)
McROBERTS.
Friends may call at the
C. Haskett and son Funeral Home, 223 Main Street, Lucan on Sunday
2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral service will be held on Monday,
March 6th at 11 a.m. with Mr. Peter
CARBERRY officiating. Interment
Medway Cemetery, Middlesex Centre. Donations to the Canadian
Diabetes Association or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would
be appreciated by the family. Condolences may be forwarded through
www.haskettfh.com.
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-03-21 published
McROBERTS,
Mack▲
The family of the late Mack
McROBERTS would like to express our
thanks to family, Friends and neighbours for their love, support,
acts of kindness, food, charitable donations and floral tributes.
Thanks to Doctor
MEREDITH for his support, Peter
CARBERRY for his
kind words, and Lynn
DEBROUWER for the delicious luncheon. A special
and sincere thank you to Bill, Sue and Colin of Haskett Funeral
Home for their very professional, kind and dedicated services.
Everyone's kindness and thoughtfulness will always be remembered.
- The McROBERTS
Family.
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-06-17 published
JEFFERY,
Violet
Emily (née
SAMBELL)
At Elmwood Place Retirement Community, London on June 15th, 2006,
Violet Emily
(SAMBELL)
JEFFERY of London in her 95th year. Beloved
wife of the late William Earl
JEFFERY (1984.) Dear mother of
Mary Lois and Bruce
COOPER of London, Larry and Jacquie
JEFFERY
of Aylmer, and David and Sharon
JEFFERY of Sutton. Much loved
grandmother of Keven
JEFFERY and Marika
HOE of Boston, Neil
JEFFERY
and Sonja LEAL of London, Megan Emily
JEFFERY and Mark
OAKES
of London, Andrea
JEFFERY and Dave
FERRIS of Toronto, Nicole
Emily JEFFERY of Sutton. Loving step grandmother of Randy and
Marlene ROBINSON of Kingman, Arizona, Rick and Teresa
ROBINSON
of Phoenix, Arizona and Linda and Richard
WEBBER of Salford.
Special great-grandmother of Jada Violet
LEAL,
Felix and Xander
OAKES. Survived by her sister Grace
ASTLES of Burlington. Predeceased
by her parents Francis Poole
SAMBELL (1957) and
Emily
Louisa
(RATHBONE)
SAMBELL (1924) and 11 siblings: Florence
McROBERTS
(1975), Francis George (1897), Ethel May (1898), Francis "Frank"
(1983), Benjamin (1968), William (1985), Sydney (1981), Mabel
OUTRAM (2001,) Henry "Harry" (2001,) Albert (1983) and Herbert
(1999). Violet graduated as an R.N. from the Ontario Hospital
in London in 1932. She nursed in London, Whitby and Woodstock,
before marrying in 1942, and spending 45 years in Dereham Centre.
She retired from nursing at Parkwood Hospital in London in 1972.
Friends will be received by the family from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m.
on Sunday at the A. Millard George Funeral Home, 60 Ridout Street
South, London where the funeral service will be conducted in
the chapel on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 11: 00 a.m. with Reverend
Junior SORZANO officiating. Interment in Mount Elgin Cemetery,
Mount Elgin Ontario. As an expression of sympathy, memorial donations
may be made to the Boys' and Girls' Club of London 184 Horton
Street, London, Ontario N6B 1K8 or the charity of your choice.
Online condolences accepted at www.amgeorgefh.on.ca "What thou
lovest best is thy true heritage." (Ezra Pound)
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-07-15 published
McROBERTS,
Edith▼
Norine▼ (née
MacHAM)
Peacefully at the Montfort Hospital, Ottawa, Edith Norine (nee
MacHAM,) a dear and gentle soul, slipped quietly into the presence
of the Lord Thursday morning, July 13, 2006, at the age of 102.
Beloved wife of the late Delmont Ray
McROBERTS (predeceased in
1996;) Cherished mother of Patricia Ann
FANCY and Robert Allan
(Marylyn); "Gram" will be sadly missed by grandchildren Peter
FANCY (Natalia), Robin
FANCY, Rebecca (Giff
SHEARER), Steve
McROBERTS
(Michelle) and Phil
McROBERTS
(Libby,▼) and by great grandchildren,
Jared, Laura, Ethan, Jennifer, Victoria, Katie and Grace. Also
will be missed by Rick
FANCY
(Vista,▼)
Eleanor▼
COX and all Edith's
Red Hat group. Born on a farm near New Lowell, Ontario before
the time when automobiles, electricity, indoor plumbing and telephones
became common household amenities, Edith was blessed with wonderful
memories and stories from a bygone era. She lived by the deep
values and qualities of that era in a godly way before her family
and Friends. Edith taught in several rural one-room schools in
the 1920s and 1930s, and then in Ottawa area schools after her
marriage and while raising a family. She retired in 1968. She
was a member of Dominion (later Dominion-Chalmers) United Church
for 60 years and was an active member of their Unit 8 ministry
group. In her latter years she was known as the oldest member
of the Royal Flush chapter of the Red Hat Society and enjoyed
many outings with them up to her 102nd birthday in March. Having
taught and memorized much of the poetry from the old Ontario
readers, she knew well the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The
old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfills Himself
in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
This one good custom -- Edith -- has left an indelible mark on
all those she touched. Friends may visit at the Central Chapel
of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry, 315 McLeod Street, Ottawa (613-233-1143)
on Sunday, July 16, 2006 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Funeral
Service will be held on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 11: 30 a.m. Interment
will be held at a later date in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa. Donations
may be made to the charity of your choice. Condolences/Donations
at: mcgarryfamily.ca
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.simcoe_county.nottawasaga.stayner.stayner_sun 2006-07-19 published
McROBERTS,
Edith▲
Norine▲▼ (née
MacHAM)
Peacefully at the Montfort Hospital, Ottawa, Edith, a dear and
gentle soul, slipped quietly into the presence of the Lord Thursday
morning, July 13, 2006, at the age of 102. Beloved wife of the
late Delmont Ray
McROBERTS (predeceased in 1996;) Cherished mother
of Patricia Ann
FANCY and Robert Allan (Marylyn;) "Gram" will
be sadly missed by grandchildren Peter
FANCY
(Natalia,)
Robin
FANCY, Rebecca (Giff
SHEARER), Steve
McROBERTS (Michelle) and
Phil McROBERTS
(Libby,▲) and by great grandchildren, Jared, Laura,
Ethan, Jennifer, Victoria, Katie and Grace. Also will be missed
by Rick FANCY
(Vista,▲)
Eleanor▲
COX and all Edith's Red Hat group.
Born on a farm near New Lowell, Ontario before the time when
automobiles, electricity, indoor plumbing and telephones became
common household amenities, Edith was blessed with wonderful
memories and stories from a bygone era. She lived by the deep
values and qualities of that era in a godly way before her family
and Friends.
Edith taught in several rural one-room schools in the 1920s and
1930s, and then in Ottawa area schools after her marriage and
while raising a family. She retired in 1968. She was a member
of Dominion (later Dominion-Chalmers) United Church for 60 years
and was an active member of their Unit 8 ministry group. In her
latter years she was known as the oldest member of the Royal
Flush chapter of the Red Hat Society and enjoyed many outings
with them up to her 102nd birthday in March.
Having taught and memorized much of the poetry from the old Ontario
readers, she knew well the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The
old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfills Himself
in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
This one good custom - Edith - has left an indelible mark on
all those she touched. Friends visited at the Central Chapel
of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry, 315 McLeod Street, Ottawa (613-233-1143)
on Sunday, July 16, 2006 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Funeral
Service was held on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 11: 30 a.m. Interment
will be held at a later date in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa. Donations
may be made to the charity of your choice. Condolences/donations
at: mogarryfamily.ca
Page 17
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-03-03 published
McROBERTS,
Nora▲▼ (née
KNOWLES)
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-03-07 published
McROBERTS,
Nora▲▼ (née
KNOWLES)
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McROBERTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-03 published
McROBERTS,
Nora▲ (née
KNOWLES)
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McCRORY o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2006-02-01 published
JEMMETT,
George
Walter
Passed away peacefully with his family at his side, on January
31st, 2006 at the Groves Memorial Community Hospital in his 60th
year. George will be greatly missed by his loving wife of 39
years, Susan
(WEIR) and his caring daughters Lisa
BARFOOT
(Earl)
of Owen Sound and Darcie
SHEPPERD
(Paul.)
Loved and cherished
by his grandchildren Adam, Brandon, Cale, Brianna, Cody and Eric.
Fondly remembered by his brothers and sisters Helen
McCRORY
(Emmett,)
Chuck (Wannie), Carol
RAYMOND (Phil), Ken (Betty) and Cliff (Lil).
Sadly missed by his nieces, nephews, cousins and many Friends.
Friends may call at the Graham A. Giddy Funeral Home and Chapel,
280 St. David St. South in Fergus, on Thursday, February 2nd,
2006 from 2: 00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Funeral Service
to be conducted at Knox Presbyterian Church in Elora, on February
3rd, 2006 at 11: 00 a.m., followed by interment at the Elora Cemetery.
Memorial donations can be directed to the Groves Memorial Hospital,
Parkinson Foundation or the Heart and Stroke Foundation, cards
available at the funeral home, (519) 843-3100. www.grahamgiddyfh.com
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McCROSTIE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-03-03 published
MacCROSTIE,
Amy
Suddenly at her home on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, Amy
MacCROSTIE
of R.R.#5 Goderich in her 84th year. Beloved wife of the late
Hugh MacCROSTIE. Dear mother of Annette
McKELLAR of Victoria,
British Columbia and Dale (Hope)
MacCROSTIE of R.R.#4 Kincardine.
Loving grandmother of Kyla, Shelagh, Pam and Jeff (Zoe). Sister
of Stewart (Leiba)
TOLL of London. Sister-in-law of Marie
TOLL
and Carol MacCROSTIE.
Predeceased by brother Aubrey
TOLL, sister
Marjorie McDOUGALL, brother-in-law Ronald
MacCROSTIE and Kenneth
McDOUGALL.
Friends may call at McCallum and Palla Funeral Home,
Goderich on Sunday afternoon from 2-5 p.m. Funeral Service will
be held at the Funeral Home on Monday afternoon at one o'clock.
Interment Colborne Cemetery. Donations to Victoria St. United
Church or The Heart and Stroke Foundation gratefully acknowledged.
Friends may sign the Book of Condolences at www.mccallum-palla.ca
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McROW o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-01-18 published
MacROW,
William
Kempton
Passed away Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at the age of 86. Loving
husband and friend of Elizabeth, married 58 years. Predeceased
by two brothers (Edward and Chester) and two sisters (Florence
and June.) Survived by daughter Joan
LOCKETT and her husband
Don and granddaughters Leslie
FRALEIGH and husband Nathan, and
Jennifer LOCKETT, all of Bright's Grove, Ontario. Bill was a
veteran of World War 2, 12th Battery, 7th Medium Regiment, Royal
Canadian Artillery - 1939-1945. He was a retired public servant,
Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of National Defense,
1946-1982. Past Master of Ashlar Lodge No. 610; Past Principal,
Saint John's Chapter No. 3; Knight's Templar Richard Coeur de Lion
No. 4; and member of Mocha Temple Shrine. Member of Springbank
Royal Canadian Legion, No. 533, and member of Central United
Church, Sarnia. Cremation has taken place. The family will receive
Friends on Thursday, January 19th from 7-9 p.m. at the A. Millard
George Funeral Home, 60 Ridout Street South, London where the
funeral service will be conducted in the chapel on Friday, January
20th at 11: 00 a.m. with the Reverend Dr. Donald
LOCKETT officiating.
Interment of cremated remains in Woodland Cemetery, London. As
an expression of sympathy memorial donations may be made to the
charity of your choice. A Masonic service under the auspices
of Ashlar Lodge No. 610 Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons will
be conducted at the funeral home on Thursday evening at 7 o'clock.
On line condolences accepted at www.amgeorgefh.on.ca
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McCROW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-10-17 published
Lister SINCLAIR:
Broadcaster,
Playwright (1921-2006)
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation personality and intellectual
closely identified with the radio program Ideas loathed being
called a Renaissance man, yet excelled at almost everything
By F.F. LANGAN,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S11
Toronto -- His voice, writings and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Radio plays were heard by Canadians for seven decades. In the
end, though, Lister
SINCLAIR was best known as the man who hosted
Ideas for 16 years. Although he was part of a team, listeners
thought of Ideas and Lister
SINCLAIR as one, since his sense
of curiosity and vast knowledge were reflected in the program.
Yet, he was more than that. To an earlier generation, he was
the writer of more than 400 feature-length radio plays, and hundreds
of other shorter works that ranged from wartime propaganda to
children's stories.
In the early days, his plays were as important on radio as documentaries
are today. In fact, the American magazine Variety, in describing
one of his plays as "boffo," said it was as smoothly written
as a documentary.
The play, Hilda Morgan, dealt with a young woman whose fiancé
is killed in a car accident. She is pregnant, and her sister
suggests an abortion -- without using the actual word. The play
caused an uproar in the House of Commons, the type of outrage
now reserved for documentaries that carry a definite message.
It was Lister
SINCLAIR's rule to "always be on the side of the
victim."
Whenever reporters wrote about him, they always seemed to mention
his age. At first, it was because he was so young for someone
to have done so much. "At 27, Lister
SINCLAIR is already well
known as author, actor, critic, mathematician and linguist,"
said a publicity blurb in April of 1948.
Two years later, Time ran a piece on the "Bombay-born Lister
SINCLAIR, 29, who had three of his original radio scripts dramatized
on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Stage 50 last week."
By 1956, it was along the lines of "At 35, Lister
SINCLAIR is
one of the principal contributors to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's
radio and television drama series."
Almost 40 years later, the air of amazement was still evident.
In 1995, a profile in The Globe mentioned that, at 74, Mr.
SINCLAIR
had been at it for 50 years and "shows no signs of slowing down."
While he will always be associated with the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation mainstream, Mr.
SINCLAIR represented a kind of eccentric
(he wrote most of his scripts longhand) who was almost a caricature
of the professional intellectual. He called himself an "omnibrow,"
rather than a highbrow.
Over the years, he wrote many books and articles but was best
known for the spoken word. With his beautiful voice, he could
explain complex ideas in simple sentences.
The first time Canadians heard that voice was when he was acting
on radio. Later, he hosted and narrated The Nature of Things
he even came up with the name -- when it first went on television.
In that same period, he also took a comic turn on Wayne and Shuster,
the hugely popular comedy show. There he changed a bit, and chose
to sound Canadian. He once described himself as "a pretty good
second-rate actor. But unlike first-rate actors like John Drainie,
I couldn't turn into someone else."
Lister SINCLAIR had an unusual start in life. He was born in
India, but never really knew the place. His father, William
SINCLAIR,
was a chemical engineer working in India. At 18 months, Lister
was sent home to Britain to live with an aunt. Years later, he
said perhaps his mother had worried he might come down with tropical
diseases.
His English aunt proved to be somewhat overprotective, even cruel.
He did not see his parents again until he was 7, when they came
home on extended leave. At 8, he was packed off to Colet Court,
a boarding school that served as a feeder for the great English
public school of Saint Paul's. Though young Lister did poorly at
prep school, often coming last in his class, he was clever at
math and won a scholarship to Saint Paul's. Among his fellow students
were the grandchildren of Sigmund Freud, the family having fled
the Nazis to settle in London.
Later in life, he told of a savage beating he suffered for talking
back to a matron, a woman who worked at the school. One of the
masters, her boyfriend, beat him so badly with a pool cue that
he broke a bone at the base of the boy's spine. The master was
fired over the incident.
Mr. SINCLAIR was bitter about his lost childhood, having been
all but abandoned by his parents, yet never dwelled on it. He
understood that, from their point of view, it was a great thing
to be educated at one of Britain's top schools. Meanwhile, when
he was not away at school, his aunt continued to rule his life
and once refused to allow him to go on a supervised scout trip
to France.
For all that, his parents did weigh in from time to time. In
the summer of 1939, his mother, reassured by a travel agency
that there wasn't going to be a war, arrived in England and booked
a trip to New York to attend a World's Fair. They sailed on the
Normandie, a luxurious French ship that was then the fastest
liner on the North Atlantic run, landed in New York to see the
fair and then headed for Buffalo, New York They were visiting
Niagara Falls as part of a package tour, when Britain declared
war on Germany. It was September 3, 1939, and mother and son
were stuck on the wrong side of the Atlantic. The father was
isolated in India, so the two of them set off for the West, first
to Washington state and then north to Vancouver. They travelled
by bus.
Mr. SINCLAIR enrolled at the University of British Columbia during
his first week in Canada. To his Canadian classmates, he must
have appeared rather odd (he walked with a cane and had a strange
English accent), and yet at University of British Columbia he
made some of his first meaningful Friendships.
"He seemed pretty old and knew everything," said Pierre Berton,
a fellow student at University of British Columbia. "We always
figured he swotted up on things the night before so he could
tell us exactly what it was that Mozart had said to Beethoven.
He was a non-stop talker and a very fast reader… he remembered
everything he ever read."
Later, Mr.
SINCLAIR went to the University Toronto to study for
a master's degree and in 1942 he made extra money by teaching
math to undergraduates and by acting at the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation. He was part of what became known as the "Vancouver
Exodus" of young intellectuals who headed for Toronto during
the 1940s.
At the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he first wrote war
propaganda, for there was no question of him joining the war
effort. He was lame from a back injury -- not from the beating,
but from falling down stairs -- which was why he walked with
the aid of at least one cane. One of his first acting jobs was
to imitate Germans in such works as Nazi Eyes on Canada. It was
narrated by Lorne Greene, the chief announcer at the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation who was known as the Voice of Doom,
and featured actress Helen Hayes.
Mr. SINCLAIR soon began writing plays and he entered a period
of great productivity. As a trained mathematician, he liked to
say that math and drama had much in common. After all, both were
the arrangement of ideas.
In all, he wrote more than 700 radio plays, some very ambitious.
One of his favourites was about Socrates, the Greek philosopher.
"Of course he liked it," said a former Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation colleague. "He was so much like Socrates -- someone
devoted to teaching and talking. Socrates never wrote anything.
Lister did, but it is nothing compared to the words he spoke
in plays and
on Ideas."
After radio, Mr.
SINCLAIR moved to television, where he was sought
after as a performer as well as a writer. He had to cut his hair,
trim his beard and not dress like a bohemian. While many of his
radio programs are on tape in the archives, his earlier television
programs were broadcast live and vanished, unrecorded.
"I do wish I had more of these things on tape. One thing that
I much regret, for example, is a television drama that, in fact,
was one of my better television programs. It was called Beethoven.
Lorne Greene played Beethoven before he left for Hollywood. But
there was no kinescope [copy]. It's completely gone."
Pierre
Berton, who died in 2004, told The Globe that Mr.
SINCLAIR
could have easily joined Lorne Greene and Canadians who went
to Hollywood.
"I think he regrets that he didn't go to Broadway in the fifties.
There was no theatre here to speak of when he was writing. He
wrote wonderful [radio] plays. He got good reviews and an audience."
For a time, Mr.
SINCLAIR considered trying his luck in London's
West End but instead stayed in Canada, producing and writing
a greater variety of material than perhaps anyone else in the
country.
"I'm interested in pretty well anything, but finance is low on
the list," he told The Globe. "I'm also not very interested in
selling." Even though he knew his limitations, that was not enough
to stop him from trying what he must have known he was not good
at -- running things. Perhaps the strangest period of his long
career was a spell in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation management.
It read like one of his plays in three acts: the opening farce,
the melodrama and the final tragic act.
It all began to unfold in 1968 when Laurent
PICARD, an academic
who later became dean of the Faculty of Management at McGill
University in Montreal, was made an executive vice-president
at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1972, Mr.
PICARD
became president and decided he needed someone creative to run
the network's English-language services. He fastened on Lister
SINCLAIR and made him executive vice-president of English services.
Suddenly, Mr.
SINCLAIR, a man who had never managed more than
a small broadcast production, found himself in charge of a vast
bureaucracy. A producer had never risen so high the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation hierarchy. "It was a disaster," said
one of his Friends. "The rumour was, he went to Coles and bought
a book on management. He was not suited to it."
Mr. PICARD soon realized his mistake and conflicts began to erupt.
After two years, Mr.
SINCLAIR was downgraded to vice-president
of program policy and development. Two years later, he was out
of management altogether and describing administration as "a
branch of anthropology." It was the only period of his life that
could be categorized as a failure.
He soon went back to doing what he did best -- writing, performing
and producing programs, especially ones that dealt with difficult
subjects. He became a frequent guest on Morningside at a time
when the host was his friend Don Harron. Together, they did ambitious
stuff, such as imaginary tours of 18th-century Venice, complete
with the sound effects of oared gondolas.
At an age when many people start to think of retirement, Mr.
SINCLAIR
took on the job of host of Ideas. For 16 years, he was the voice
for more than 2,000 programs, hundreds of which he wrote and
produced himself. He was often late for recording sessions and,
if the programs were his own scripts, he worked to the last possible
deadline.
Mr. SINCLAIR was also a fixture on the program Court of Opinion
and helped organize the Association of Canadian Television and
Radio Artists. Now known as A.C.T.R.A., it represents thousands
of Canadian performers.
His private life was sometimes as complex as his professional
life. Lister
SINCLAIR was married three times, and had several
relationships that ran for years. He had two sons from different
marriages, remained close to one but was estranged from another.
He said he found family life difficult which, given his own formative
years, is not surprising.
Soon after settling in Toronto, Mr.
SINCLAIR and wife, Alice,
whom he had met at University of British Columbia, became part
of an artist's community in Kleinberg, north of Toronto.
"The community was called Windrush and the houses were designed
by Bill McCROW, who was a set designer at the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation," said Peter
SINCLAIR, a technology entrepreneur
who is his son from his first marriage.
Alice SINCLAIR lived in the house until her death and, although
Mr. SINCLAIR moved out, he never went far. He made lasting Friendships
in Toronto and was elevated to the status of national icon, a
characterization he despised right along with the even more loathsome
"Renaissance man."
Mr. SINCLAIR shed the awkwardness of youth and became an attractive,
middle-aged man. Women were often intensely attracted by his
casual style, diffident manner and quick mind. He lost little
of his appeal in old age.
He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1985.
Lister Shedden
SINCLAIR was born in Bombay on January 9, 1921.
He died in hospital in Toronto yesterday. He was 85. He is survived
by his sons Peter and Andrew.
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