INFANTRY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-05-03 published
'Eco-hero'
HUNTER dead at 63
Seminal figure in global environmental movement
Respected author of 13 books had long career in television news
By Joseph HALL,
Staff
Reporter
The ice was cracking as the sealing boat bore down on Bob
HUNTER
and the cold green sea was bubbling up around his feet.
"I said, okay, when this ice goes, you jump to the right and
I'll jump to the left," his friend and fellow environmental activist
Paul WATSON recalls of that David and Goliath confrontation he
shared with
HUNTER off the Labrador coast back in 1976.
"But Bob said ' I'm not going anywhere.' And the damned boat
stopped."
HUNTER, the Greenpeace co-founder who came into countless Toronto
living rooms in his housecoat as a quirky commentator on Citytv's
Breakfast Television, died yesterday after a long battle with
prostate cancer. He was 63.
Described by Friends and colleagues as a congenial, funny, kind
and fiercely brave rebel,
HUNTER was a seminal figure in the
global environmental movement. His Greenpeace work in the 1970s
and 1980s helped achieve moratoriums on whaling and the Newfoundland
seal hunt (since lifted) and a ban on nuclear testing in the
Pacific.
It also ushered in a general global concern for the environment
that had been largely absent before he and his "eco-warrior"
comrades took the stage.
HUNTER was Citytv's environment reporter for 15 years, and also
was also a founding contributor to the Toronto weekly eye and
the author of 13 books.
Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, October 13, 1941,
HUNTER became
"a child of the '60s" and dropped out of school for a career
in writing.
He ended up at The Vancouver Sun, ultimately becoming the country's
first counter-culture columnist before sailing aboard the Phyllis
Cormack in late 1971 to demonstrate against U.S. nuclear tests
on Amchitka Island off the coast of Alaska.
That trip precipitated the formation of the group that would
become Greenpeace. He was the organization's original president
and chairman and held the first membership card.
In the mid-'70s as the organization's president he didn't hesitate
to take on those he deemed irresponsible.
In 1976, he took Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to task for Canada's
continuing export of nuclear technology to developing countries.
He called the leader "one of the greatest living threats to the
survival of the planet."
But by 1982 he had returned to his first love as a writer for
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The Beachcombers series and
as a columnist for The North Shore News in Vancouver
"I was the right person in the right place," said
HUNTER of his
pivotal role in Greenpeace's dissident activities to halt the
slaughter of whales.
"But when it's done, I think you can get into a habit of just
clinging to it because you don't know what to do next, whereas
I knew all along I wanted to get back to what I was doing already."
WATSON, however, says
HUNTER's role in the success of Greenpeace
cannot be overstated.
"There are a lot of us who could be called (Greenpeace) co-founders,
but I would describe Bob as the founding father," he says.
"He was the one who picked it up when it was faltering in the
early 1970s and made it what it is today. If not for Bob
HUNTER,
there would not be a Greenpeace Foundation today."
"Bob was one of a critical mass of environmental people with
a media focus," says long-time friend Dan
McDERMOTT, director
of the Sierra Club of Canada's Ontario chapter.
"He had the vision to look across cultures and to use the media
to move the message."
Confrontational stunts at sea became his Greenpeace trademark
even as they literally put
HUNTER's life on the line.
Indeed, many say it was the televised image of a harpoon flying
over WATSON's head and into a whale he was trying to protect
in the mid-'70s that brought environmentalism into the public
eye.
Premier Dalton
McGUINTY paid tribute to
HUNTER, who ran for the
Liberals in a 2001 by-election, finishing second to New Democrat
Michael PRUE.
"Ontario and Canada have lost a very important citizen. Bob
HUNTER
was larger than life,"
McGUINTY said yesterday.
"Some people talk about saving the world. Bob
HUNTER devoted
his life to saving the world," he said.
In 2000, HUNTER was named one of Time magazine's eco-heroes of
the century.
HUNTER died surrounded by his wife, Bobbi and his children Will,
Emily, Conan and Justine, according to Citytv.
A memorial service will be announced shortly.
With files from Ashante
INFANTRY and Robert
BENZIE
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INFUSINO o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-04-01 published
INFUSINO,
Franca
Peacefully, on March 31, 2005, surrounded by her family, at the
age of 47. Franca, beloved wife of Carlo, and loving mother of
Elisa and Claudia. Family and Friends will be received at the
Ward Funeral Home, 4671 Highway 7, Woodbridge (just west of Pine
Valley Drive), 905-851-9100, on Saturday from 6-9 p.m. and Sunday
from 6-9 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at
St. Peter's Catholic Church on Monday, April 4, 2005 at 11 a.m.
Entombment to follow. If so desired, donations to the Canadian
Cancer Society would be appreciated.
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INFUSINO o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-11-19 published
INFUSINO,
Luigi
Peacefully, at home, surrounded by his family, on Friday, November
18, 2005, at the age of 72. Loving husband of Ida. Devoted father
of Frank and his wife Lisa, Renato and his wife Nora, and Mary
and her husband Mark. Cherished Nonno of Mark, Kristen, Dianna,
Alessandra, Louie D., and Louie M. Beloved
son of Maria and the
late Francesco. Dear brother of Atillio, Vicky, Armando, Carlo,
Elvira, Aldo, and Rose. He will be dearly missed by many family
and Friends. Friends may call at the Ward Funeral Home, 4671
Highway 7, Woodbridge (just west of Pine Valley Drive), 905-851-9100,
on Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral Mass will
be celebrated on Monday, November 21, 2005 at St. Clare of Assisi
Church, 150 St. Frances Ave., at 11 a.m. Entombment to follow
at Glendale Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations to
the Princess Margaret Foundation would be appreciated by the
family. Condolences may be sent to the family at luigi.infusino@wardfh.com
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