Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 28/02) - In the end, his big heart could not overcome his damaged lungs. Peter Gzowski died Thursday of complications from emphysema. He was 67.

Gzowski is best remembered across Canada as the host of CBC Radio's Morningside from 1982 to 1997. Past the 60th parallel, he was also known as a man passionately devoted to literacy.

Peter Gzowski takes a "Northern Limo" during the 1995 Peter Gzowski Invitational. The broadcaster and literacy advocate died Thursday. - NNSL file photos

The government of the Northwest Territories issued a statement Friday that called Gzowski "a true Northerner."

"The Northwest Territories has lost more than a friend -- we have lost one of our own."

Kate Sills, executive director of the NWT Literacy Council, said Gzowski was a powerful ally.

"The impact he's had on literacy in the North was enormous," she said. "He brought literacy to life for a lot of people."

Barb Paquin is mourning the loss of more than a patron -- Gzowski was a friend. The former executive director of the literacy council said even before she met Gzowski, she felt she "had a relationship" with the man.

A stay-at-home mother during the Morningside years, Paquin got to know Gzowski better during her involvement with the council.

Long a promoter of literacy issues, Gzowski founded the golf tournament that bears his name in 1989. The Peter Gzowski Invitational is held in a different NWT or Nunavut community each year.

"He had a huge impact, just through the publicity his name and presence brought to the issue," said Paquin.

Gzowski attended every single tournament, save the last.

His emphysema, brought on by a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit, made it impossible to travel.

He kicked his habit two years ago, but the damage had already been done.

Prior to his death, Gzowski was writing a book about the North.

"He was very interested in politics, and especially the idea of (NWT and Nunavut's) division," said Sills.

Still there was more to his interest in the North than just politics, according to Sills.

"He often said he thought that everyone in the North had a story to tell," Paquin said.

Donations to the Nunavut Literacy Council, Frontier College, Trent University or the West Park Hospital Foundation are requested in lieu of flowers.