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Former Post editor dead at 71

news@cbpost.com @capebretonpost

SYDNEY — Armed with an English degree from St. Francis Xavier University, Doug Mcgee cut his teeth in journalism at an early age, working in newsrooms from the Strait of Canso to the prairie fields of Saskatchewan.

A master of prose, he spent much of his career listening to both sides of an argument before laying out the case to let the public decide.

Mcgee, an award-winning editorial writer who spent more than 25 years toiling at the Cape Breton Post, died at his Sydney home on Friday. He was 71.

A quiet and unassuming guy, Mcgee retired from the Post in September 2010 as the associate editor — second-incommand of the largest newsroom in Cape Breton.

His career started at the Post in 1984 when he was hired as a reporter-photographer at the age of 34. He covered some major local stories including one of the trials for the killing of Sandy Seale — a murder Donald Marshall Jr. was wrongfully found guilty of before being acquitted by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983.

Within the next few years — after carrying out some desk work and following the departure of the paper’s associate editor — Mcgee became the voice of the Post when he started writing the paper’s unsigned editorials.

Early opinion pieces were based on the topical news of the day, said Mcgee, in an interview prior to his retirement in 2010, adding that they weren’t extensively researched due to the lack of a well-kept filing system.

“You look for a Cape Breton connection, it doesn’t necessarily have to be direct, it can be something you think would interest Cape Bretoners as well,” he said.

Mcgee was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for his editorial writing prowess in 2002. Four years later, he was nominated again for editorials covering ethics and Cape Breton Regional Municipality politics, the issue of welfare limiting education options, and the connection between economic factors and the poor health of Cape Bretoners.

He was honoured at the Atlantic Journalism Awards in 2010 with the lifetime achievement award.

Bev Mcgee, who retired in 2016 from the Cape Breton Regional Library as a library assistant in children’s programming, said her husband’s career was about finding balance.

Winning awards was a nice way to be recognized; however, it was his ability to reason both sides of an argument — playing the Devil’s advocate — that made his writing stand out, she said.

He did not present an editorial in order to curry favour with a popular opinion.

“It was using the intelligence he had and presenting (the argument) clearly and concisely for people to make up their own minds,” Bev said. “What Doug found most important was that writing be not sloppy and well structured. If they (public) didn’t get good writing, why pay attention to what is being said?”

Mcgee grew up in Port Hastings and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Francis Xavier University in 1972, followed by two years of post-graduate studies in English in Saskatoon.

Early in his career, he worked at newspapers that included the Truro Daily News, Amherst Daily News, Moncton Times & Transcript and Saskatoon Star-phoenix, along with a six-year stint as the editor of The Scotia Sun, a now-defunct weekly that was based in Port Hawkesbury.

In 1982, Mcgee won a National Newspaper Award for best entry from a community newspaper on the career of the businessman who operated the firm, EAC International. He was lauded for his “lean prose” that was in “no way devoid of colour.”

In the years since his retirement, Mcgee didn’t take life in the slow lane. He travelled extensively with family and enjoyed literature, including re-reading the complete works of William Shakespeare.

“He set goals for himself,” said Bev. “He filled every minute with learning something new.”

He received a bicycle as a gift upon his retirement — a piece of sporting equipment he used regularly, including the occasional jaunt out to the Louisbourg coastline, she said.

Mcgee received a cancer diagnosis in April. He had an aggressive brain tumour — glioblastoma. Bev said his doctor suspected he had the tumour for about a year.

He was surrounded by those who meant the most to him at the time of his passing at 12:55 p.m. Friday. Mcgee will be cremated. There will be no visitation or service.

Along with his wife, Bev, he is survived by his two adult sons, Danny and Sean, as well as Danny’s wife, Jill, and their three daughters, Abbey, Hannah and Mya.

Not one for sad goodbyes, in his final editorial on Sept. 18, 2010, Mcgee wrote this:

“For all the times I’ve bored or confused you in this space, I apologize. For all the rebuttals that straightened me out, I am grateful. For all the times I stimulated some new perspective, I am satisfied.”

Rest in peace, Doug.

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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