12 John Downing

A salute to The 62.

John Downing had a near-death medical scare in the spring of 2011, an event that returned the Day Oner and former editor to the pages of the Toronto Sun for the first time since 2007. The Sun has published five "Hospital Hell" columns about his hospital experiences in the U.S. and Toronto and guest columns. John, who turned 75 on June 10, said he felt lost in hospital without a keyboard. After all, he has been writing since his Ryerson years in the 1950s. His daily newspaper career in Toronto began in 1958 after spending a year as editor of the Whitehorse Star in the Yukon. He covered a lot of bases at the Tely and was an assistant managing editor when it folded in 1971. John didn't skip a beat, joining 61 other Tely staffers at the Sun's launch. When he left the Sun in 2007, he had 5,400 columns and 4,000 editorials to his credit. His full biography can be read on his Downing's Views blog. 

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We want to give everyone the opportunity to mark the 40th anniversary.