Fred has had a full career as a CBC TV host and reporter. He has written countless articles for many renowned publications such as The Economist, The Globe and Mail, BusinessWeek and many more, as well as more than 2000 obituaries. He is also a successfully published author and ghostwriter. His current projects include writing and co-authoring books, as well as lending his talents as a speaker and interviewer for webcasts.
Don Laubman, who died in Red Deer, Alta., on June 20 at the age of 96, was one of the top air aces of the Second World War. Remarkably, he shot down 15 German aircraft, even though he only arrived in England in 1942, three years after the start of the war. He was the […]
When her husband’s first big deal was hanging in the balance, Jacqueline Desmarais, who died this month at the age of 89, said to him: “Don’t worry, Paul, if it doesn’t work out, I can go back to nursing.” Her husband told the story at her 80th birthday party. “They were the original power couple, […]
Francess Halpenny, who died on Christmas Day at the age of 98, was a powerhouse in the world of letters in Canada. She was a top editor with the University of Toronto Press at a time when the esteemed publishing house was expanding its international reputation; she was editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, […]
Grant Munro, who has died at the age of 94, both starred in and did animation for Neighbours, a National Film Board short that won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1953. Neighbours is a Cold War parody that opens with two men sitting in lawn chairs. They are smoking pipes and share a […]
October is the cruellest of months for stock markets. Thirty years ago, there was the stock market crash of 1987, a one-day drop of 22.6 per cent on October 19. That was somewhat unique, since a recession did not accompany it; the cause was program trading – computers tricked into selling all at once. Stock […]
We’re not talking about Bill Gates type riches, just a comfortable cushion to live on if you fall on hard times or stop working. There is a two-word solution: Compound interest. Compound interest is when you earn interest on your interest. Say you have $500 in a bond or stock and it pays you 5 […]
Most viewers never knew his name, but Arnold Amber, who died in Toronto on Labour Day at the age of 77, was the brains behind TV programs that millions of Canadians watched. For a decade and a half, he was the man in charge of special news broadcasts at the CBC, covering elections, leadership conventions, […]
J. Pearce Bunting, who died last month at the age of 87, was president of the Toronto Stock Exchange for 17 years, from 1977 to 1994. He was from central casting: handsome, well dressed, with impeccable manners and a fine pedigree; he was the public ideal of what a stock exchange president should be. He […]
Jack MacKenzie, who died last month at the age of 95, had a remarkable string of accomplishments in his long life: He was the oldest man ever to ski to the North Pole; made 30 trips across the North Atlantic during the Second World War, ferrying aircraft to Britain; was the first federal taxman in […]
J. Pearce Bunting, who died last month at the age of 87, was president of the Toronto Stock Exchange for 17 years, from 1977 to 1994. He was from central casting: handsome, well dressed, with impeccable manners and a fine pedigree; he was the public ideal of what a stock exchange president should be. He […]
Imagine you're 23 years old, the low man on the newsroom totem pole, and they are about to send the police reporter, the oldest guy in the room, to cover
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Dr. William Barakett, who died of cancer last month at the age of 74, practised medicine in the Eastern Townships of Quebec for almost 50 years. He was a country doctor with a difference. Along with running a private practice, he was an expert in alcohol and drug addiction; he also devoted time to running […]
William Wilder, who has died at 96, was one of the most powerful men on Bay Street from the 1950s to the 70s, helping build Wood Gundy into what was then the largest brokerage and corporate-finance firm in Canada. Bill Wilder, as everyone knew him, was a super salesman who could run numbers in his […]
