Mr. Vancouver

Rick Antonson's thoughts about Chuck

Via KnowBC, Rick Antonson writes: Chuck Davis Passes. Excerpt:

A great man has passed away this morning. He had more admirers than the number of pages in all his (17 and counting) books. He leaves us a legacy of history-as-wit, and of our own stories internationally told. He touched every nook of our city; he gave us memory. 

He was my friend, and a friend of Tourism Vancouver. He made the time to come to one of our staff gatherings some years ago to talk about new found film footage of old Vancouver, to help shape our collective pride of this place we invite the world to visit, and to make sure we knew where we'd come from. 

A few years ago our board of directors honoured Chuck with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his unique contributions which include the first-ever 'guidebook' to Vancouver. 

In his mid 70's, Chuck was still writing - compiling a massive website on this destination's past one hundred+ years, and preparing another book on Vancouver (yes, one day it will be published) that in scope and ambition exceeds any book that Canadians will have seen. It was the culmination of his life's work, and with that life now over, others will help to complete his project.

Tom Hawthorn: 'Mr. Vancouver' loved a good fact

On November 22, Tom Hawthorn wrote a lovely article: 'Mr. Vancouver' loved a good fact. Excerpt:

Chuck Davis unearthed forgotten tales from Vancouver's rollicking past, providing a history for a city whose memory sometimes seems no deeper than its latest property boom. 

Davis, who died on Saturday, three days after his 75th birthday, was an amateur historian who frequented archives and libraries. He mined documents and yellowed newspaper clippings, scavenging facts and oddball nuggets for his books and articles. 

A man of boyish enthusiasms, he had an anecdote for every occasion. After a dramatic public announcement of a diagnosis of untreatable lung cancer, he told reporters about one of his recent finds. In 1909, the city acquired the first mechanized ambulance in the Dominion. The crew proudly took it on a tour of the city, during which they struck and killed a pedestrian. 

The absurdity of that tragedy struck him as humorous, and one could not help but admire a man whose appreciation of the macabre was undiminished in the face of his own death sentence. 

Davis was one of the city's most familiar figures, an avuncular presence for nearly a half century as author, lecturer, quizmaster, cruciverbalist, television host, and radio announcer. No living person knew more about the city and its past, earning him the nickname Mr. Vancouver.

Chuck's obituary—by Chuck

Edna notified me that the Vancouver Sun is running the obituary that Chuck himself wrote; she added only the last sentence: Remembering | Vancouver Sun.

DAVIS, Charles Hector Chuck

The writer and broadcaster, was born in Winnipeg November 17, 1935. He died November 20, 2010, aged 75. Chuck came to Vancouver with his dad George in 1944, then moved with him again to Toronto in 1948. He left school at age 13 and had a variety of jobs until he joined the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry on June 1, 1953. 

He was stationed at Currie Barracks in Calgary. From there he was sent in 1955 to West Germany and ended up as an announcer at CAE, the Canadian Army radio station at Werl. Private C. Davis was the first person on the air on the station's first full day March 22, 1956. 

Following his discharge in late 1956 Chuck decided to stay in radio. He worked at several stations in Ontario, then came to BC in 1960 to work at Radio CJVI in Victoria. From there he went to CHEK-TV, also in Victoria, and next to CBC Radio in Vancouver. He was an announcer there, and then in 1963 an announcer-operator for the CBC in Prince Rupert. 

While he was in Prince Rupert Chuck sold his first piece of writing (it was to Daryl Duke, then with CBC Toronto.) Then it was back to CBC Vancouver where he met his future wife, Edna, who worked in the newsroom. They married August 30, 1965 in Toronto while he was doing summer relief announcing for the CBC there. 

His first newspaper piece (on how to construct crossword puzzles) appeared in The Vancouver Sun in 1966. In January 1969 he started with CHAN-TV (later BCTV, now Global). 

Chuck and Edna's daughter Stephanie was born in Vancouver in 1972. 

His first book, a guide to Vancouver, appeared in 1973. His urban almanac, The Vancouver Book, came out in 1976. Chuck devised and hosted a word game show, Look that Up, that was heard on CBC Radio's national network starting in 1983. He followed that up with Conquest!, a show based on knowledge of other countries. He also devised crossword and other word puzzles, and wrote dozens of limericks, many of which were clean. 

Chuck did a daily items column for the Province that eventually changed to a regular weekly column on Vancouver history. That led to more books: Two weeks in Vancouver (with John Ewing); Kids! Kids! Kids! And Vancouver! (with Daniel Wood): Turn on to Canada!; Vancouver: An Illustrated Chronology (with Shirley Mooney); Top Dog! A History of CKNW; The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopaedia; Where Rails Meet Rivers: The Story of Port Coquitlam; Vancouver Then & Now and others. 

At the time of his death, Chuck was working on his magnum opus The History of Metropolitan Vancouver. He is survived by Edna, his extraordinary wife of 45 years, who encouraged and supported him for all that time, his daughter, Stephanie, and his sister, Donna Carlbom (Ernie) of Waimanalo, Hawaii. 

The family wish to express their thanks to Dr. R. Hepburn and the staff at Surrey Memorial Hospital for their excellent care.

The Vancouver Sun on Vancouver's 'collective memory'

The Vancouver Sun said this on November 20: Vancouver's 'collective memory,' historian Chuck Davis, dies at age 75. Excerpt:

Chuck Davis, the man who produced the definitive guide to Vancouver, along with 14 other books, has died from lung cancer at age 75. 

His wife, Edna said he died early Saturday morning before 6 a.m., in an e-mail. When contacted at home, she declined to talk about her husband just yet. 

"I'm just not prepared for that right now," she said. 

She said the family plans to have a memorial and celebration of his life in about two months. 

Tributes to the highly respected historian and author poured in Saturday, as friends called to talk about the enormous contribution he made to Vancouver. 

"Chuck gave so much as a selfless civil servant. He was like a civil servant. He was gathering all this information not for his own self but for the sake of society," said Alan Twigg, publisher of BC Bookworld. 

"The city had this incredible resource that he gave his life to and he did it as a self-sacrifice." 

Paul Whitney, city librarian at the Vancouver Public Library, who knew Davis for several decades, said he was a well-known figure at the library who will be sadly missed by staff. 

"He was just a walking encyclopedia. He was a gentle, extroverted, really friendly guy who loved libraries and he always knew everybody in the libraries and he was the ideal user because we would learn from him as well as him learning for us."

How The Province reported Chuck's death

In The Province, November 21: Vancouver historian Chuck Davis dies. Excerpt:

Vancouver writer Chuck Davis, the man who brought the city's history to life, has died of lung cancer at the age of 75. 

Davis, a former Province columnist, died early Saturday, his wife, Edna, said in emails to news organizations. 

And plaudits poured in for the man who is probably best known for writing The Vancouver Book, published in 1976. 

Mayor Gregor Robertson said Davis's "wide-eyed curiosity" led to him being described as the city's "collective memory." 

"His work as a broadcaster, educator and prolific author instilled a sense of local history and heritage in our citizens," said Robertson. "Chuck showed why our past is important and brought it to life in so many different ways." 

Davis was recognized by the proclamation of Chuck Davis Day last month and was also awarded the 17th annual George Woodcock lifetime achievement award in recognition of his literary career. 

The award was commemorated with a plaque that was installed on Friday in the Writers' Walk at the Vancouver Public Library on Georgia Street. 

"It's a sad day," said Howard White of Harbour Publishing, who plans to publish Davis's final book, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, in time for the city's 125th anniversary next year. 

"It's a real loss," said White. "I think, for him, the history of Vancouver was a living show, like it was going on in his living room." 

White said he'd been working with Davis for about five years on the book. "It's a mountain of work that he's done," said White. "It's massive and it's fairly close to being finished. It's going to take some organizing to bring it together the way he wanted but we plan to do that." 

White said the pair had been friends since the early 1970s when Davis interviewed him for CBC's afternoon show. 

"I'll miss Chuck terribly," he added. "He seemed to just live to make puns and tell jokes and just be a completely delightful person. He was always phoning up to say he'd uncovered some new little wrinkle that he took such delight in."

Remembering Chuck

 Welcome to Mr. Vancouver, a website dedicated to celebrating Vancouver historian Chuck Davis and to the completion of his last work, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver.