William Arthur Irwin

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W. Arthur Irwin
Born
William Arthur Irwin

(1898-05-27)May 27, 1898
DiedAugust 9, 1999(1999-08-09) (aged 101)
CitizenshipCanadian
Occupation(s)Journalist and diplomat
SpouseP. K. Page (1916-2010)
Children3

William Arthur Irwin, OC, often credited as W. Arthur Irwin (May 27, 1898 – August 9, 1999), was a Canadian journalist and diplomat. He is best known for his work on Maclean's, a magazine with which he held various positions across a quarter of a century. He also served as the Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and as Canadian high commissioner or ambassador.

Life and career

Irwin was born in Ayr, Ontario,[1] on 27 May 1898 to Reverend Alexander J. Irwin and Amelia (Hassard).[2] During the First World War he served abroad,[1] before returning to Canada after the end of the conflict to attend the University of Toronto.[3] He became a journalist while still a student, working at The Mail and Empire for $30 a week.[3] He subsequently moved on to The Globe, for which he worked until 1925 when he resigned following criticism from the newspaper's owner about a piece he had written during the 1925 federal election.[3]

The same year, he began working for Maclean's.[1] He was initially the magazine's associate editor, becoming the full editor in 1945, although even before this point he was regarded as being the driving force behind the publication.[1] He is credited with having brought a new generation of Canadian artists and writers to prominence at Maclean's, including Pierre Berton, June Callwood, Trent Frayne and Clyde Gilmour.[3] Irwin was a Canadian nationalist who believed his job at Maclean's was "interpreting Canada to Canadians."[1]

In addition to his journalistic career in this period, during the 1930s he worked with the

Canadian Institute of International Affairs.[4] In the 1940s he also began working for the United Nations, an organisation with which he continued to be associated through to the 1960s.[4] In 1948 he suffered a personal loss when his wife Jean, whom he had married shortly after leaving university, died of asthma.[3]

Irwin left Maclean's in February 1950 when he became the Government Film Commissioner, in charge of the National Film Board.

communist elements in the NFB.[5] However, Irwin made important changes that helped to revive the fortunes of the NFB. He re-wrote the National Film Act,[4] making the organisation independent of government control.[5] He also decided to move the NFB's headquarters from Ottawa to Montreal, believing it would benefit from being away from the capital.[3]

It was also at the NFB that Irwin met his second wife, the writer and poet P. K. Page.[7] She was working as a scriptwriter at the NFB when he arrived there in 1950.[7] She had decided to leave the NFB, and Irwin had initially invited her to dinner to try to persuade her to stay, from which had blossomed a friendship which turned to romance, and they married later the same year.[6] Page later commented that her success as a poet would not have been possible without Irwin's support.[3]

Irwin left the National Film Board in 1953, to take up work for the

Times newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia until his retirement in 1971.[1] A biography of Irwin was published in 1993,[8] as well as a lengthy interview at his hundredth birthday in May 1998.[9]

He died in Victoria in 1999, at the age of 101.[1] He was survived by Page and by his three children from his first marriage.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Berton, Pierre. "Irwin, William Arthur". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  2. ^ Collections collectionscanada.gc.ca[dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Mendleson, Rachel (May 2, 2009). "Arthur Irwin and P. K. Page Have a Room of Their Own". Maclean's. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e "NFB Profiles - Irwin, W. Arthur". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c "1950". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c Martin, Sandra (January 17, 2010). "The Poetry of P. K. Page Was 'Daring in Scope'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  7. ^
    Canada.com
    . Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  8. . Chapter excerpt, David MacKenzie, "Have you done your homework? The making of a national magazine," University of Toronto Magazine, Winter 1993, pp. 8-11. Review by Brad Bird, "Irwin's integrity comes through," Times-Colonist, Sun 12 Dec 1993, p. M-4.
  9. ^ Robert Fulford, "Witness to a Century," The Globe and Mail, 23 May 1998, pp. C-1, C-8.
Cultural offices
Preceded by Government Film Commissioner and
Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada

1950-1953
Succeeded by