Crossed the country reporting on medicine
Writer won numerous awards, ‘was mentor to many’ during 28-year career at the Star
Friends and colleagues are mourning the loss of an award-winning former Toronto Star journalist who helped pioneer the medical science beat.
Marilyn Dunlop, 88, died late Friday night at St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, Ont. Her family was by her side.
Dunlop, who studied journalism at the University of Western Ontario, began what would become a 28year-long career at the Star in 1964, carving out a niche for herself in the medical reporting beat.
“She literally developed the whole beat of reporting on what was happening in hospitals, what was happening in medicine, what was happening with some of the big doctors in town,” said Torstar board chair John Honderich, who worked with Dunlop in the ’80s when he was beats editor.
“I think for some, it’s too easy to go off on . . . the new development that’s going to cure all. She didn’t go down that path. She was measured, responsible, and yet breaking stories all the time.”
Dunlop left to serve as the Star’s London, U.K. bureau chief from 1977 to 1980 but resumed medical reporting after returning to Toronto.
“You’re always learning,” she said of her beat. “It’s like being able to take a high-level course in medicine with the best tutors in the world. Medical students would give their eye teeth to spend a half hour with these people.”
Her work earned her accolades from members of the medical community and media alike, including four Science Writer Association Awards, a National Newspaper Award in Feature Writing and the Royal Canadian Institute for Science’s Sandford Fleming Medal and Citation.
“She was so well-known and regarded by her colleagues and by the doctors,” said former Star reporter Lillian Newbery, who took over the medical beat when Dunlop went to London. Dunlop was also a “compet- itive and conscientious and confident” reporter.
Along with crossing the country, and sometimes the planet, covering everything from open-heart surgery in Hungary to the detrimental effects of excessive vitamins, Dunlop also took on an unofficial mentoring role for newer and younger reporters in the newsroom — particularly women, who were heavily outnum- bered by the men.
“Marilyn’s exemplary reporting was an inspiration to countless young women starting their careers in media. She was a mentor to many and genuinely cared about her coworkers,” former managing editor Mary-Deanne Shears said in an email.
“I remember when retirement was a frightening prospect to many journalists, but not to Marilyn. She believed that retirement opened up positions and new opportunities for the next generation of reporters. That was important to her.”
Kelly Toughill, now director of University of King’s College School of Journalism, was among those mentored by Dunlop and recalled her subtle style of helping steer young reporters in the right direction.
“There was no chest-thumping at all with Marilyn, yet she was still very satisfied and able to do the kind of journalism she wanted to do and that was inspiring,” said Toughill, who started as a general assignment reporter at the Star in1986 and went on to become deputy executive editor.
Dunlop also made time for her chil- dren. “She was a very good mom . . . She worked hard and she came home and she made time for the family in the evenings, and she always made sure we were taken care of,” Dunlop’s son, Doug, said in a phone interview.
“She definitely cared about the issues of the day and she cared about family.”
Dunlop’s daughter, Stephanie Clark, agreed. “She was the most wonderful mom anyone could ask for, and the way she juggled raising a family totally on her own (and) working a career at a time where women didn’t really have careers . . . As her awards and writing indicate, she was well-recognized for her talent.”
Dunlop retired from the Star in 1992, continuing to write occasional columns for the paper but otherwise enjoying a “pretty quiet” retirement, said her son Doug — she loved gardening, going to her cottage in Bruce Beach and walking her dog, Scooter.
Dunlop is survived by her daughter and son.
The family will be holding a private funeral service. With files from Hina Alam