Peter Desbarats
Peter Desbarats | |
---|---|
Born | Montreal, Quebec |
July 2, 1933
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. London, Ontario |
Nationality | Canadian |
Occupation | journalist, writer |
Known for | Global News anchor, Toronto Star columnist |
Peter Hullett Desbarats, OC (July 2, 1933 – February 11, 2014) was a Canadian author, playwright and journalist.[1] He was also the dean of journalism at the University of Western Ontario (1981–1997),[1][2] a former commissioner in the Somalia Inquiry[1][2] and a former Maclean-Hunter chair of Communications Ethics at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario.
Until his death from Alzheimer's disease,[3] he lived in a heritage home with his actress wife Hazel in the East Woodfield Heritage Conservation District in London, Ontario.[3]
Contents
Early life
Peter Desbarats was born in 1933 to Hullett Desbarats (a descendant of the printer and publisher George-Édouard Desbarats)[2] and Margaret Rettie.[4] The family lived on Connaught Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Peter attended Loyola High School.[2]
Career
Before he was appointed dean of UWO's journalism school, which he successfully fought to save in the 1990s when UWO wanted to discontinue the program,[2] he worked as a print and television journalist for 30 years,[5] starting as a copy boy with the Canadian Press,[2] Canada's national news co-operative, in his home town of Montreal.[3]
Desbarats worked in London's Fleet Street for Reuters news agency,[2][3] as a political reporter and foreign correspondent for the Montreal Star[5] and as national affairs columnist for the Toronto Star.[1] In the 1960s and early 1970s he hosted the supper-hour news and current affairs show on Montreal television station CBMT,[3] and in the 1970s was co-anchor and Ottawa Bureau Chief for the Global Television Network,[1] winning the 1977 ACTRA Award for best news broadcaster.
Desbarats wrote 13 books, including René: A Canadian in Search of Country, a best-selling biography of René Lévesque;[1][2] Somalia Cover-Up: A Commissioner's Journal, a book about his stint on the Somalia Inquiry;[2] and Guide to Canadian News Media, a standard journalism text;[5] as well as several children's books[6] and a 2002 stage play, Her Worship, about controversial London mayor Dianne Haskett.[3] He was later a contributor to the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and The London Free Press,[3] as well as an active community volunteer in London.[3]
In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[1][2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Former journalist, author Peter Desbarats dies". The Gazette, February 11, 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Former dean of journalism at Western University started as a copy boy and carved out a distinguished career in print and broadcasting". London Free Press, February 12, 2014.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Former Global News anchor Peter Desbarats remembered as ‘first-class journalist’". Global News, February 12, 2014.
- ↑ "L'ancien journaliste et auteur Peter Desbarats est décédé à l'âge de 80 ans". Le Devoir, February 12, 2014.
External links
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1933 births
- 2014 deaths
- 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
- Canadian children's writers
- Canadian columnists
- Canadian television news anchors
- French Quebecers
- Officers of the Order of Canada
- University of Western Ontario alumni
- Writers from London, Ontario
- Writers from Montreal
- Global Television Network people
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
- University of Western Ontario faculty
- Ryerson University faculty
- Canadian male dramatists and playwrights