Arthur Black was 74. He was the humourist who hosted Basic Black on CBC Radio for 19 years and won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour three times.
June 16, 2026
In Memoriam
Total 1769 Posts
Reg E. Cathey was 59. He was the actor best known for his roles as Norman Wilson in The Wire and Martin Querns in Oz, two fantastic series I highly recommend.
John Mahoney was 77. He was the actor who appeared in Eight Men Out, Say Anything..., In the Line of Fire, Reality Bites, and The American President before finding fame as Martin Crane in the sitcom Frasier.
Mort Walker was 94. He was the comic strip writer best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954.
Red Fisher was 91. He was the sports journalist who covered the Montreal Canadiens for 58 years at the Montreal Star and Montreal Gazette.
Dolores O'Riordan was 46. She was lead singer of the band The Cranberries best known for their hits "Dreams", "Linger", "Zombie", "Ode to My Family" and "Salvation".
Keith Jackson was 89. He was the legendary college football announcer whose iconic "Whoa Nellie" catchphrase was a regular part of Saturdays for years.
Donnelly Rhodes was 80. He was the actor best known for his roles as Sgt Nick Raitt on Sidestreet and Grant "Doc" Roberts on Danger Bay. He was also Dutch Leitner on Soap and Doctor Cottle on Battlestar Galactica.
Jerry Van Dyke was 86. He was the actor best known for his appearances on his older brother's sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and as Luther Van Dam on Coach.
Johnny Bower was 93. Nicknamed "The China Wall", the Hall of Famer won four Stanley Cups tending goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In retirement, no Leafs alumnus was more active than Johnny Bower. Often at this time of year I'd share Johnny Bower's "Honky the Christmas Goose". Sung with
Irv Weinstein was 87. He was the legendary WKBW-TV anchor who used alliterative expressions like “pistol packing punks” as the king of local television news in Buffalo for decades. From this side of Lake Ontario, Irv was Buffalo. Here's something I wrote about Buffalo Eyewitness News about a decade ago.
Dick Enberg was 82. He was one of the most versatile and enthusiastic sports announcer of his era, calling major league baseball, college and pro football, college basketball, boxing, tennis, golf, Olympics, Rose Bowls and Super Bowls and Breeders’ Cup horse racing.
June Rowlands was 93. She was Toronto's first female mayor, elected in 1991. She served as the city’s 60th mayor until 1994.
Jim Nabors was 87. He was the singer and actor best known for his role as Gomer Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show." His character was spun-off into a new series, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," which ran for five seasons.
David Cassidy was 67. He was the1970s pop culture idol who starred as Keith Partridge in “The Partridge Family.”
Malcolm Young was 64. He was the legendary guitarist who co-founded AC/DC with his younger brother, Angus Young.
Roy Halladay was 40. He was the greatest starting pitcher in Blue Jays history and one of my all-time favourite players. If you search this site for the keyword "halladay" you will find dozens and dozens of entries about the man. Here are a few of my favourites: Roy Halladay
Fats Domino was 89. He was the influential rock and roll artist best known for his songs Ain't That A Shame, Blueberry Hill and I'm Walkin'.
Robert Guillaume was 89. He was the actor best known for his role as Benson on the TV-series Soap and the spin-off Benson, as well as Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night.
Gord Downie was 53. He was the lead singer and songwriter for The Tragically Hip, my favourite band of all-time. I'll never forget the day I heard Blow at High Dough on Q107 back in '89. I picked up Up To Here and never looked back. I've since seen them
John Dunsworth was 71. He was the actor best known as the irreverent trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey on Trailer Park Boys.
Tom Petty was 66. He was the singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but also known as a member and co-founder of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. There was a lot of Tom Petty talk in my recent podcast with Barry
Monty Hall was 96. He was the game show host best known for co-creating hosting Let's Make a Deal.
Hugh Hefner was 91. He was the editor-in-chief and publisher of Playboy magazine, which he founded in 1953.
Jake LaMotta was 95. He was the professional boxer known as The Raging Bull who was World Middleweight Champion in 1949 after defeating Marcel Cerdan.
