Callwood, June 1924-2007

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born June 2, 1924, in Chatham, Ontario, Canada; died of cancer, April 14, 2007, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Journalist, activist, and author. A columnist, reporter, and television and radio host, Callwood was a leading activist in her native Canada who championed the rights of the poor, ethnic minorities, the addicted, AIDS sufferers, and victims of abuse, among other causes. She began her career before World War II as a reporter in Brantford, Ontario, and then at the Toronto Globe and Mail. In 1946 she became a freelance writer, and the 1960s saw her hosting the radio shows Human Sexuality and Generations for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Callwood would host television shows later in her career, including In Touch during the mid-1970s and Callwood's National Treasures in the 1990s, highlights of which were published in book form as June Callwood's National Treasures (1994). Active in numerous causes about which she was vocal to the point where one Canadian governor general, Adrienne Clarkson, was on record as describing her as a nuisance, Callwood was founding vice president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Other organizations in which she was involved include Amnesty International and the National Advisory Committee on the Battered Child. Callwood was cofounding president of Nellie's Hostel for Women, where she was director from 1986 to 1992, and founding president of Jessie's Center for Teenagers, Casey House Hospice, and the Casey House Foundation. Casey House was named after her son, who was killed by a drunk driver, and was a shelter for the underprivileged. As an author, Callwood published a number of other nonfiction titles over the years, including Emma: The True Story of Canada's Unlikely Spy (1984), Jim: A Life with AIDS (1988), and The Man Who Lost Himself: The Terry Evanshen Story (2000). She was named to the Canadian News Hall of Fame in 1984, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation, and presented with a Global Citizen award from the United Nations Association in Canada, among numerous other honors.

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Washington Post, April 14, 2007, p. B8.