BOB HUNTER CO-FOUNDER OF GREENPEACE
BOB
HUNTER
Bob
Hunter, co-founder of Greenpeace died yesterday
Go
to www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050502-013/page.asp
Tuesday,
May 3, 2005
LEGEND
LOST
Throughout his life,
Citytv Ecology Specialist Bob Hunter fought every battle you can
imagine in his zest to save the environment.
He was the co-founder of
Greenpeace, recognized as one of the leading enviro-action groups
in the world.
He
stood down ships seeking to stop whaling and later the Canadian
seal hunt, forcing himself before powerful vessels aimed on killing
the innocent creatures he vowed to protect.
He took on critics and
corporations, the well meaning but misguided and the greedy
anything-for-a-buck crowd.
In the end, Bob emerged
with so many victories. But he finally lost the one battle he
couldn't win - the fight to save his own life. He died from
prostate cancer Monday morning. He was only 63.
Bob came late to the
CityPulse family, but like so many of his other endeavours, he made
an immediate and special impression.
His stories on
everything from Temagami to his journey along the Thelon River and
his tracking of his old friend, Capt. Paul Watson's journeys with
the Sea Shepherd Society, prompted action and outrage alike.
Nothing pleased him
more.
But Bob was
a seasoned pro well before he arrived on the shores of the
CityPulse newsroom. He was a columnist for the Vancouver Sun and
later for Eye Weekly and the author of 13 well-received books - one
of which won a Governor General's Award.
He ran for the Liberals
in a provincial by-election in 2001, losing to the N.D.P.'s Michael
Prue. He hosted "Hunters' Gatherings" on CablePulse24 for several
years, bringing new colours to both sides of intense green
issues.
His
editorials on the station won countless awards. His "Paper Cuts"
segment on Breakfast Television was a morning ritual for hundreds
of thousands. And the accolades he brought to the medium were
reflected off camera as well.
Bob was honoured as one
of Time Magazine's Eco Heroes of the 20th Century. A scholarship in
his name continues to enrich students at the U. of T. And his
passion for the environment proves it was easy being green.
But it was his power
with words that inspired so many. "I think my earliest heroes, if I
had any, were writers," he once recalled. "And having seen it, I
had to express it. Otherwise it wouldn't have been worth
living."
But Bob took that living
seriously, risking his life most famously in the early 1970s, with
an iconic image, sandwiched between a whaling ship's harpoons and
one of the great mammals, in an effort to protect it from a crew
bent on harvesting the creature.
He later repeated the
death-defying act at Canada's seal hunt.
Those who witnessed his
bravery remain in awe of that courage all these years later.
"Greenpeace as an organization already existed at that time,"
recalls fellow eco-warrior Dan McDermott. "The mind bomb of that
action - putting yourself between the harpoon and the whale -
arguably saved the whales."
Hunter was also there
protesting nuclear tests and the dumping of toxic waste. And he
never shied away from the danger or the controversy.
When he was diagnosed
with prostate cancer in 1999, he tried treatments that were both
conventional and unconventional. In the end, none worked and the
cancer spread.
He fought his final
battle the way he had so many others, discussing it on his show and
giving updates on his progress until he was too ill to
continue.
He's
survived by his wife of 31 years, Bobbi, a 26-year-old son named
Will, his 19-year-old daughter Emily, two children from a previous
marriage - 41-year-old Conan and 37-year-old Justine - and four
loving grandchildren.
At the time of his
marriage, he recalls promising Bobbi that their life together
"won't be dull". And to the end he delivered on that vow, leaving
an indelible mark on both history and nature that - like the
ecosphere he tried so hard to protect - will be his legacy.
Funeral arrangements and
a memorial service have yet to be finalized.
To read Bob's famous
journal on his journey through Bloodvein, click here.
To read an excerpt from
Bob's last book, "The Greenpeace to Amchitka - An Environmental
Odyssey", click here.
* To contribute to The
Robert Hunter Scholarship for Environmental Studies, contact the
University of Toronto, Innis College, at 2 Sussex Avenue, or call
416-978-0169.
To see one of Bob's
"Paper Cuts" segments, click the video links in
www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050502-013/page.asp
May 2, 2005
"Yes sad but I figure he
be better out of it, this world is no place for the good or
innocent."
