Richard John Philip Jermy Gwyn (May 26, 1934 – August 15, 2020) was a Canadian journalist, author, historian, and civil servant.

Early life

Richard Gwyn was born on May 26, 1934, in

Bury St. Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was the second son to

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Philip Eustace Congreve Jermy-Gwyn, an

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

officer, and Elizabeth Edith Jermy-Gwyn (née Tilley), eldest daughter of Sir John Anthony Cecil Tilley. His older brother died in infancy. At the age of 20, in 1954, he emigrated to Canada.

Education

Gwyn was educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

, a co-educational

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

-run

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. He also attended the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

Career

Gwyn began his career as a radio reporter in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. From 1957 to 1959, Gwyn was the parliamentary correspondent for

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

, in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. Later in 1959 to 1960, he worked for

Thomson Newspapers The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to fo ...

. From 1960 to 1962, he was the

editor for

Maclean-Hunter Maclean-Hunter (M-H) was a Canadian communications company, which had diversified holdings in radio, television, magazines, newspapers and cable television distribution. History The company began in 1887, when brothers John Bayne Maclean and Hu ...

Business Publications. From 1962 to 1968, he worked for '' Time Canada'' as a parliamentary correspondent and contributing editor. From 1968 to 1970, he was the executive assistant to the Minister of Communications,

Eric Kierans Eric William Kierans (February 2, 1914 – May 10, 2004) was a Canadian economist and politician. Early life Born in Montreal, Kierans grew up in the working-class Saint-Henri neighbourhood. His father worked at Canadian Car and Foundry, and ...

. From 1970 to 1973, he was the director-general, socio-economic planning in the Department of Communications. In 1973, Gwyn joined ''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' and worked as a national affairs columnist until 1985. He then became an international affairs columnist later that year until 1992. He continued to write columns on public affairs for the ''Star'', on a freelance basis, until 2016. As an author, he is best known for his 1980 contemporary biography of

Pierre Elliot Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

, ''The Northern Magus'', and for a two-volume historical biography of Sir

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

. The first volume of his Macdonald biography, ''The Man Who Made Us'', won the

Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction The RBC Taylor Prize (2000–2020), formerly known as the Charles Taylor Prize, is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation to the best Canadian work of literary non-fiction. It is named for Charles P. B. Taylor, a ...

in 2008. The second volume, ''Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times; Volume Two: 1867-1891'', won the

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writer ...

in 2012 and was a finalist for the

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

and the

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction The Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best work of non-fiction by a Canadian writer. Canada's most lucrative non-fiction prize, the winner re ...

. From 1983 to 1987 he and Robert Fulford co-hosted the long-form interview show ''Realities'' on

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

. Gwyn also appeared weekly as a panellist from 1994 to 2006 on TVO's ''

Studio 2 ''Studio 2'' was a daily (weeknights) current affairs newsmagazine on TVOntario in Ontario, Canada. The show won several Gemini Awards, and was hosted by Steve Paikin and Paula Todd (who replaced original co-host Mary Hynes in the show's thir ...

'' and ''

Diplomatic Immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

'' and was an occasional guest on ''

The Agenda ''The Agenda with Steve Paikin'', or simply ''The Agenda'', is the flagship current affairs television program of TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster. Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism. Each hour- ...

'' until 2017.

Personal and later life

Four years after emigrating to Canada, Gwyn married

Sandra Gwyn Alexandra Sandra Fraser Gwyn, (17 May 1935 – 26 May 2000) was a Canadian journalist and writer. She was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, the daughter of Claude Fraser and Ruth Harley. After her father's death, her mother remarried and th ...

in 1958. Their marriage lasted till her death on May 26, 2000, due to

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. Gwyn subsequently remarried to Carol Bishop-Gwyn, and after residing in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto, he moved with his wife into a condominium in the Lawrence Park neighbourhood. On November 29, 2001, Gwyn was appointed chancellor of

St. Jerome's University St. Jerome's University, commonly shortened to St. Jerome's or SJU, is a public Roman Catholic university in Waterloo, Ontario. It is federated with the University of Waterloo. St. Jerome's, within the University of Waterloo, combines academics ...

at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

and was installed on March 17, 2002. The same year, he became an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. Gwyn ceased writing his column in 2016 and made his last appearance as a television panellist in 2017. He had been living with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

for several years and resided at Dunfield Retirement Residence, an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is s ...

facility in midtown Toronto. He died from Alzheimer's on August 15, 2020.Longtime Star columnist Richard Gwyn, dead at 86, set the standard for Canadian political journalism
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Major works

* ''The Shape of Scandal: A Study of a Government in Crisis''. 1965. * ''Smallwood, The Unlikely Revolutionary''. 1965. * ''The Northern Magus: Pierre Trudeau and Canadians'', McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1980. * ''The 49th Paradox: Canada in North America''. 1985. * ''Nationalism Without Walls''. 1995. * '' John A.: The Man Who Made Us''. 2007. *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gwyn, Richard 1934 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Canadian civil servants Canadian columnists 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian university and college chancellors Officers of the Order of Canada People educated at Stonyhurst College Writers from Toronto English emigrants to Canada Toronto Star people TVOntario people Time (magazine) people Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 21st-century Canadian historians