Remembering Peter Gzowski: A Book of Tributes

When Peter Gzowski died in January 2002, millions of Canadians felt a sense of bereavement. The magical intimacy of radio had meant that for them Peter Gzowski was a friend, one they would miss. So they poured out their feelings with rare eloquence, in newspapers, magazines and on CBC Radio.

This book collects the best of these tributes. The contributors include some of the most thoughtful and articulate people in the country: writers like Alice Munro and Jane Urquhart; fellow journalists like Robert Fulford; broadcasters like Michael Enright; and commentators like Stuart Maclean and Rex Murphy.

Yet matching the contributions by the great and famous, the people who knew Peter Gzowski well, are the memories sent in by ordinary Canadians – from their tractors or fishing boats or their kitchens or offices – who felt that they knew him, and whose lives he had touched. By letter, by e-mail and in phone calls they sent in their memories, touching, affectionate, varied, often surprising and in summary forming a delightful tribute.

The selection of the very best of these tributes was made by Peter’s long-time editor Edna Barker, his partner Gill Howard, and by his colleague Shelagh Rogers.

Royalties from this book will go to two of Peter Gzowski’s favourite charities – Frontier College, to fight illiteracy, and Trent University’s Peter Gzowski Scholarship, to encourage greater contact between Trent students and Canada’s North.

Shelagh Rogers, an award winning journalist and broadcaster, has been a respected and familiar voice on CBC Radio for more than 20 years, most recently as the host of the flagship current affairs program, This Morning. She was a long-time associate of Peter Gzowski and appeared regularly with him on Morningside – beginning in 1995 she was Deputy Host of the progam. And like Gzowski, she shares a keen interest in the work of Frontier College, for which she has volunteered for more than fifteen years.