Edmonton photographer mourned after sudden death
Boland earned international acclaim while also supporting 60 charities a year
Prominent Edmonton EDMONTON photographer Con Boland is being remembered as much for his stunning photographs as he is for his tireless philanthropic work.
Boland, 69, who had recently faced heart issues, died from sudden cardiac arrest on Tuesday.
Boland’s career in photography earned him numerous awards and international acclaim, immortalizing the images of prominent politicians and local celebrities, including Wayne Gretzky, Pierre Trudeau and Tommy Banks.
Born in Holland, Boland began studying photography in Europe through his teens and was inspired by his father.
Family spokeswoman Debbie Young said people tended to focus more on Boland’s eccentric personality then on the beauty he brought his legion of followers.
“Look at the photographs,” Young said.
“He captured the city in ways that I’ve never seen before … (and) when he did a portrait, he captured the soul of that person, not just their physical being. “… It was a gift.” Young said Boland will be remembered for his support of 60 charities a year and for other community work like the planting of 160 trees at the Riverdale School “so children could have a wonderful environment to go to school in.”
But Boland’s life was marred by controversy.
Boland found himself in the public eye in 1992 after accusing his former-model girlfriend Marilyn Tan of injecting him with HIV. Tan was acquitted of that charge, but the 1995 trial grabbed international headlines.
In February 1993, Boland opened his front door for a man who threw a cup of acid at him, causing him to suffer second- and third-degree burns to his face, chest and arm.
Edmonton police later charged Geoffrey Clarkson, a New Zealand multimillionaire, Marilyn Tan, and two local private detectives, Russell Elvin Forsythe and Walter James Peel, with aggravated assault in connection with the acid attack.
The Crown’s case later unravelled after wiretap evidence was deemed inadmissible.
Boland was attacked again in March 1997, when he called 911 saying he had been stabbed by model June Delma Vivian, who pleaded guilty and served a sixmonth conditional sentence.
Boland later faced controversy after clashing with some neighbours in Riverdale while constructing his 3,494-square-foot eco-friendly home and studio. The home is shared with his wife Rose.
“Con saw life through the lens, literally and figuratively,” Young said. “He stopped and actually looked and saw the beauty, but he also saw things like discrimination and poverty and social injustice, which he would stand up and be a loud voice against.”