Peter Gzowski, Canadian radio icon, died in a Toronto hospital, on Thursday, January 24, 2002, surrounded by family. He was 67. Gzowski, who had smoked for 50 years before quitting in 1999, had been suffering from emphysema.

Gzowski, was best known as the host of CBC Morningside for 15 years, from 1982 until May 1997 when it went off the air. Before that, Gzowski had hosted This Country in the Morning for three years, starting in 1971.

As well as his radio work, Gzowski was also a newspaper journalist, a magazine editor, a television personality and the author of 16 books. He also was the founder of the Peter Gzowski Invitational golf tournaments in aid of literacy for which he raised millions of dollars. At the time of his death, he was chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough.

Gzowski was born in Toronto in 1934, but when he was six, he moved to Galt (now part of Cambridge), Ontario and was brought up by his mother and her new husband, Reg Brown. Gzowski?s mother died when he was 14 and his alcoholic father was a sporadic presence in his life. Gzowski was the great-great-great grandson of a Polish noble who was an engineer, Sir Casimir Gzowski, who constructed the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto to Sarnia and planned the park system along the Canadian bank of the Niagara River. In 1948, at the age of 14, he ran away from home and found his paternal grandfather, who managed to have Peter admitted to his alma mater, Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. After Ridley, where he graduated with two scholarships, he enrolled at the University of Toronto. His first journalism job was at the Timmins (Ont.) Daily Press, when he was 19. He then went on to become the city editor of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald and managing editor of Chatham Daily News, as well as a stint at the Toronto Star. At age 28, Gzowski became the youngest managing editor at Maclean's magazine. Gzowski began his radio career in 1969. From 1971 to '74, he hosted This Country in the Morning and after a disastrous foray into telvision, he returned to radio to host the three-hour Morningside show from 1982 until 1997. It was on radio that Gzowski's shone. It has been estimated Gzowski conducted 27,000 interviews during his tenure at Morningside. He interviewed politicians, fishermen, miners, artists, business scions, astronauts and everyday folk and was as comfortable in the company of a head of state as he was with a popular sports figure. To millions of listeners, Peter Gzowski was a part of their morning routine, as vital as breakfast and their morning coffee.

Gzowski always believed radio was more intimate, more versatile than TV. "Because you can have pictures in people's minds that are more exciting than any picture that could ever get onto a television set. So when you're working with all the vocabulary of the mind and undistracted by pictures, then it's more versatile."

After Morningside, Gzowski, still managed to keep a busy schedule, in media and academia. He continued to write books and newspaper columns and hosted the CBC's coverage of Nunavut territory handover ceremonies in Iqaluit in April 1999. he also served as a judge for the Giller literary prizes. In 1998, Gzowski returned to national radio to host a one-hour weekly show called Gzowski in Conversation as well as a series called Some of the Best Minds of Our Time.

Gzowski achieved many distinctions, among them: the Canadian Journalism Foundation's lifetime achievement award; a personal George Foster Peabody Award (the first time a Peabody had been given to an individual Canadian working in Canada); he was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1986 and a companion in 1999; member of Canadian News Hall of Fame; 11 honorary degrees; seven Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television & Radio Artists awards; in 1993 his book Canadian Living: Selected Columns was nominated for the Steven Leacock Medal for Humour; and in 1995, he was awarded the Governor General's Performing Arts.

Prime Minister Chrétien issued a news release saying he was "deeply saddened to learn that Peter Gzowski has passed away.? And noted that; "In a country as vast and diverse as ours, he accomplished the singular feat. . .of becoming something of a common Canadian point of reference,"

Gzowski is survived by his partner of the last 20 years, Gillian Howard and his five children with his former wife Jenny Lissaman -- Peter Casimir, Alison, Maria, John and Mick.

A public celebration of Gzowski's life is planned for February 2, 2002 at 4 p.m. at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall. A private family funeral was held Monday, January 28.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Frontier College, Trent University, the Nunavut Literacy Council or the West Park Hospital Foundation.