Gardner, Ray

Ray Gardner had a long career as an editor and journalist. Born in Victoria, Gardner grew up in Vancouver and worked for the city's three dailies, including The Province, The Sun and the News Herald. In 1947 he won the prestigious Kemsley scholarship, then awarded annually to the "outstanding young newspaperman in Canada," and spent 14 months in the United Kingdom and Europe. While in the UK, he married Kay Gardner, whom he had met in Vancouver in 1945.

On his return to Canada, Mr. Gardner served as managing editor of the Edmonton Bulletin, and worked as a freelance writer for numerous Canadian periodicals, including Maclean's, Liberty and Reader's Digest. After serving as West Coast editor of Maclean's, he joined The Star in 1961, where he became editor of Star Weekly, a weekly magazine supplement distributed with The Star. When it folded in 1968, he moved over to the daily as an assistant managing editor, serving in a variety of roles. He was appointed ombudsman, the reader's representative at the newspaper, in 1982, and remained in that post until his retirement in 1986.

Toronto Star obituary, 27 December 1997.

B. Whittle, 2016.