Larry Zolf (July 19, 1934 – March 14, 2011)
cbc.ca, March 14, 2011. was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

journalist and commentator. Zolf was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. He earned a B.A. from the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and kinesiology and applied health as well as gra ...

, and then received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Canadian history from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. In 1962, he joined the CBC. During the 1960s he was one of the hosts of the CBC's controversial current-affairs show ''

This Hour Has Seven Days ''This Hour Has Seven Days'' was a CBC Television news magazine that ran from 1964 to 1966, offering viewers in-depth analysis of the major social and political stories of the previous week. The show, inspired by the BBC and NBC-TV satire seri ...

'' and its replacement series '' Sunday''. In 1965, Zolf's documentary on computers won the Anik Award. This documentary was later rebroadcast as one of Canada's 100 best documentaries on the 50th anniversary of the

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

. During the

Munsinger Affair The Munsinger affair was Canada's first national political sex scandal in 1966. The affair involved Gerda Munsinger, a German citizen who had been convicted in Germany as a common prostitute, a petty thief and a smuggler, who emigrated to Canada ...

, a 1966 sex scandal involving former federal Minister of Defence Pierre Sévigny, Zolf showed up on Sévigny's doorstep in pursuit of the story, and Sévigny promptly hit Zolf over the head with his cane. In 1970, Zolf covered the

October Crisis The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cr ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

for the CBC. In October 1971, Zolf invited feminist

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literat ...

and anti-abortion politician Joe Borowski on his program to discuss the emergence of

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. ...

. During the program, however, Zolf launched his own attack on Greer, accusing her of "ignoring ethnic and class differences among women." Greer responded by accusing him of fabricating sections of her book (''

The Female Eunuch ''The Female Eunuch'' is a 1970 book by Germaine Greer that became an international bestseller and an important text in the feminist movement. Greer's thesis is that the "traditional" suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexual ...

'', in fact, contained no "section" on truck drivers) and told him, "I never suggested any such thing. I cannot have you sitting here distorting my book for the people who are foolish enough to think that you know about things.""Germaine Greer vs. Larry Zolf"
cbc.ca. Though he was raised in a socialist milieu and maintained a strong sympathy for labour, Zolf described himself politically as "a

Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

Dalton Camp Dalton Kingsley Camp, (September 11, 1920 – March 18, 2002) was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator, and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although he was never elected to a se ...

Red Tory A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...

.""Make Conrad Black a Canadian"
. ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', July 19, 2007. He worked for Camp in the late 1960s after the cancellation of ''This Hour Has Seven Days''. While retired from the CBC, he continued to contribute a column to the CBC's website until 2007. After leaving CBC Online he contributed occasional opinion pieces to the ''

''. He also published several books during his lifetime, including memoirs and works of humorous political commentary. Zolf is the father of award-winning poet Syd Zolf. He is buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Bibliography

* ''Dance of the Dialectic'' (1973) * ''Just Watch Me: Remembering Pierre Trudeau'' (1984) * ''Survival of the Fattest: An Irreverent View of the Senate'' (1985) * ''Scorpions for Sale'' (1989) * ''Zolf'' (1999) * ''The Dialectical Dancer'' (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zolf, Larry 1934 births 2011 deaths Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian columnists Canadian humorists Canadian memoirists University of Winnipeg alumni University of Toronto alumni Writers from Winnipeg Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people Jewish Canadian journalists