Peter Herrndorf, 'Renaissance man' of Canadian journalism and arts, dead at 82

Peter Herrndorf, an influential Canadian journalist and news programmer who later headed the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, has died at age 82.

Matthew Herrndorf said his father died early Saturday morning surrounded by family at a hospital in Toronto. The cause was cancer. 

"He had a big and consequential and important life, and [it's] hard to put into words what he meant to us and what he meant to Canada," Matthew Herrndorf told The Canadian Press on Saturday.

Herrndorf joined the CBC in Winnipeg in 1965, eventually becoming a vice-president, where he helped develop long-standing series including The Fifth Estate and The Journal.

He later took on roles as publisher of Toronto Life magazine, as well as chairman and CEO of TVO.

Then, in 1999, he began a nearly 19-year tenure as the president and CEO of the National Arts Centre (NAC), where he also helped establish the National Arts Centre Foundation and its Indigenous Theatre Department. 

What tied that varied and storied career together was Herrndorf's passion for storytelling, said Christopher Deacon, who succeeded Herrndorf as the head of the NAC in 2018. 

"Whether it's a big story that's going to lead off the evening news or a story that's gonna captivate 2,000 people watching an opera or a play, the throughline was the way we tell stories to communicate, to find meaning, and to share that meaning and community," Deacon told the CBC on Saturday.

While calling Herrndorf a "brilliant" arts administrator, Deacon said he was perhaps more remarkable for his affability and openness. He pointed to Herrndorf's daily routine of rubbing shoulders with everyone from stagehands to performers in the NAC's "green room" or mess hall. 

"He saw that as a kind of crossroads where everyone met on equal terms," Deacon said. "I had the great pleasure of watching how he did it. Peter used social skills to advance an agenda for the institution."

Steve Paikin, the host of TVO's flagship current affairs program, The Agenda, said he owed Herrndorf his long career at TVO and that he'll miss Herrndorf's penchant for "deep conversations." 

"He gave me one of the best lines once," Paikin told the CBC. 

"He said, 'If I want to have my senses assaulted by an exciting sporting event, I'll take my son to a basketball game. But if I want to know what's going on in my daughter's life, I'll take her to a baseball game.'"

Paikin also valued Herrndorf's open door policy, citing the "chairman's breakfasts" where everyone was invited to speak their mind.