A MESSAGE FROM THE VINYL CAFE
It is with deep sadness that the Vinyl Cafe family announces that Stuart McLean passed away February 15th, 2017, at age 68.
We are heartbroken.
But we are also finding comfort in memories of our dear friend.
Stuart always emphasized that the world is a good place, full of good people, trying to do their best. He believed in people’s extraordinary capacity for love and generosity. And he had faith in our ability to work together for the common good.
He was, in other words, firmly committed to celebrating the positive, joyful and funny side of life. Stuart assured us that even in difficult times, we can find things to be grateful for and ways to laugh. Now that he is gone, we will try hard to do just that.
Stuart connected us – to our country and to each other. He entertained us, he made us think, he made us smile. Occasionally he made us cry. And, through all of that, he reminded us that life is made up of small moments. We never know which ones will be forgotten and which ones will stay with us forever.
So today, and hopefully every day, we’re going to celebrate Stuart’s life by trying to make each moment count and by being grateful for all of them.
We are certainly grateful for each and every moment we shared with Stuart.
We will miss him.
PUBLIC TRIBUTE
There will be a public tribute at a later date. The family requests privacy at this time.
DONATIONS
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to:
The Stuart McLean Camp Kanawana Fund
Stuart worked at Camp Kanawana for five summers, and he often said that it changed his life. This fund will help children and teens without the financial means to attend Camp YMCA Kanawana, a community where they learn to care for themselves, each other and the environment.
ABOUT THE VINYL CAFE
The Vinyl Cafe was a radio show heard on selected public radio stations in the United States, on Podcast, and online. The show was written and hosted by Stuart McLean and featured stories, essays and music.
The Vinyl Cafe stories are about Dave, owner of a second hand record store called “The Vinyl Cafe”. The stories also feature Dave’s wife, Morley, their two children, Sam and Stephanie, and assorted friends and neighbours. The stories are collected in books and on CD.
The motto of Dave’s store – and of the radio show – was “We May Not Be Big, But We’re Small.”
ABOUT STUART MCLEAN
Stuart McLean was a best selling author, award-winning journalist and humorist, and host of CBC Radio program, The Vinyl Cafe. Stuart began his broadcasting career making radio documentaries for CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning. In 1979 he won an ACTRA award for Best Radio Documentary for his contribution to the program’s coverage of the Jonestown massacre.
Following Sunday Morning, Stuart spent seven years as a regular columnist and guest host on CBC’s Morningside. His book, The Morningside World of Stuart McLean, was a Canadian bestseller and a finalist in the 1990 City of Toronto Book Awards.
Stuart also wrote Welcome Home: Travels in Small Town Canada, and edited the collection When We Were Young. Welcome Home was chosen by the Canadian Authors’ Association as the best non-fiction book of 1993.
Stuart’s ten Vinyl Cafe books have all been Canadian bestsellers and have sold more than one million copies since Stories from the Vinyl Cafe was published in 1995. Vinyl Cafe Diaries was awarded the Canadian Authors’ Association Jubilee Award in 2004, and Stuart was also a three-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for Home from the Vinyl Cafe, Vinyl Cafe Unplugged and Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe.
Vinyl Cafe books have also been published in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
In December 2011 Stuart McLean was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was a professor emeritus at Ryerson University in Toronto and former director of the broadcast division of the School of Journalism. In 1993 Trent University named him the first Rooke Fellow for Teaching, Writing and Research. He was also honoured by Nipissing University (H. Ed.D.), University of Windsor (LL.D.), Trent University (D.Litt.), Saint Mary’s University (D.C.L.), University of Calgary (LL.D.), Concordia University (LL.D.), and McMaster University (LL.D.). Stuart served as Honorary Colonel of the 8th Air Maintenance Squadron at 8 Wing, Trenton from 2005 to 2008.
Since 1998 Stuart toured with The Vinyl Cafe to theatres across Canada and the United States, playing towns from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Whitehorse in the Yukon; from Bangor, Maine to Seattle, Washington.
Source: The Vinyl Cafe