TRIBUTES ‘Our driving force, our guiding light and inspiration’

“My father was a unique figure in the history of Canadian newspapering. His passion for quality journalism, his zeal for maintaining the traditions and beliefs of the Star, his desire for change and helping others, along with strict standards in how a paper should be run, all together made for a unique individual. “He would like to be remembered as a man who endeavoured to make a useful contribution to society — those are his words . . . He made that wellknown to his children. “I think the history of Toronto and the history of the Toronto Star are inextricably linked and I think people in the city will definitely remember him as being a major player in the evolution of the city and the values and the tolerance and the well-being that formed the basis of Toronto today. “ As you can imagine, when you have a father as strong and successful as mine, that presented challenges, but yet what he did, what he accomplished and what he was able to do with the Toronto Star

was a huge inspiration to me.” John Honderich, former Toronto Star publisher “The two greatest figures in the history of the Toronto Star and Torstar are Joseph E. Atkinson and Beland Honderich. Mr. Honderich was to our second half century what Mr. Atkinson was to our first, our leader, our driving force, our guiding light and our inspiration. He was a great figure not only at Torstar but in Canadian business as a whole. He built a great and lasting company that will long stand in testimony to his outstanding work.” Robert Prichard, Torstar president and chief executive officer “I’ve always had a great respect for Beland. His paper was, of course, quite different from The Globe and Mail, had a different approach, served a different clientele . . . (But) he was a great newspaperman, and he did his job as he saw it for the Toronto Star exceptionally well . . . “Bee had a little, somewhat socialistic, approach. But that meant nothing when it came to assessing him as a newspaperman and as a doer, as a contributor. I think he contributed to society very positively through his newspaper work. I think that’s the best platform anybody could have had to contribute.” Ken Thomson, chairman of the board, The Globe and Mail “ All of us at the Star today are entrusted with building on the remarkable legacy established by Beland Honderich. He set a powerful and distinctive course for this newspaper that, decades later, we strive to live up to every day. “His passion for social justice, his uncompromising dedication to journalistic excellence and his profound commitment to Canada continue to guide and inspire us.” Michael Goldbloom, Toronto Star publisher “I think Beland Honderich is one of the historians of Canada. The editorials that he wrote, the shaping of the record, whether it was in Saskatchewan, with the introduction of medicare, whether in Newfoundland at the time of its Confederation issues, he really did understand and believe in this country and portrayed it through his magnificent insights and accounting of events.” John Evans, former chairman of Torstar and former president of the University of Toronto “One of Beland’s great contributions to Canadian journalism was his steadfast support and leadership for the Canadian Press. A lot of people who weren’t privy to be able to sit on the board or attend membership meetings through Canadian Press wouldn’t have known about it. His leadership in bringing the Newspaper Guild to Canada was one of the seminal moments in Canadian journalism. I came to Toronto journalism in the early ’50s and I was astounded at the way the people — you know, bottles at everybody’s desks and everything like that. It was only when the union came in that the management took the strong stand to change that whole culture.” Clark Davey, retired newspaper executive and former chair of the Canadian Press