Funeral held for journalist Peter Worthington
Posted May 22, 2013 9:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – A funeral service was held Wednesday for renowned journalist Peter Worthington, the founding editor of the Toronto Sun.
The service was held at 11 a.m. at Toronto’s Christ Church Deer Park.
A visitation was held on Tuesday at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Visitation Centre.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to War Amps or Doctors Without Borders.
Worthington died May 12 at the age of 86.
The Toronto Sun reported Worthington died at Toronto General Hospital, where he had been admitted with a staph infection.
Career and legacy
Worthington enlisted in the Canadian Navy when he was 17 and served in the Korean War before becoming a journalist.
As a former staff reporter at the Toronto Telegram, he covered the Vietnam War, and was in the Dallas courthouse parking garage in 1963 when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby.
He also reported on conflicts in the Gaza Strip, the Portuguese Colonial War, the invasion of Netherlands’ New Guinea by Indonesia and was in the northeast frontier of India when Chinese forces invaded, the Sun reported.
After the Telegram folded in 1971, Worthington, J. Douglas Creighton and Don Hunt founded the Toronto Sun.
Worthington was the editor-in-chief for 12 years and helped launch the Ottawa Sun in the late 1980s.
“He had that sixth sense of where the story is going to be, the right side of the story. That’s why he won so many national newspaper awards,” Sun columnist Joe Warmington told 680News.
He also said Worthington should be remembered for more than his journalism career.
“He really is one of the giants, not only in journalism, but really in Canadian history as well,” Warmington said.
Fellow Sun columnist said Worthington was kind, funny and fearless. Watch video below:
Worthington is survived by his wife, Yvonne Crittenden, and children Casey Worthington, Guy Crittenden, Danielle Crittenden, and six grandchildren.
His son-in-law, journalist David Frum, reflected on Worthington’s career on the dailybeast.com.
Sun journalists remember Worthington:
[View the story “Peter Worthington remembered ” on Storify]
With files from Erin Criger, CityNews.ca
