24 September 2008

Vale Peter Leonard

| Hammo
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The Canberra Times is reporting the passing of veteran newsreader, Peter Leonard. He was aged 66, and succumbed to mesothelioma.

He was a personality who possessed a keen enthusiasm, excellent personality, and high level of intelligence.

My deepest condolences to his family. R.I.P, Mr. Leonard.

[ED – The ABC also has a report.]

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Having met Peter in passing a few times, he seemed like a very nice man. He did a lot for Canberra news and probably one of the reasons why WIN news has survived when most other stations have not and to that one of the last traditional news readers. He will be missed.

I expect that, at an appropriate time, someone will suggest a “living memorial” fund to fund a scholarship or something that relates to PL’s interests rather than a ‘landmark’. It will be massively subscribed with donations for sure.

Bundah_Bloke10:06 pm 24 Sep 08

Does anyone know how or where he was exposed to asbestos? It must have surely been a significant exposure.

cranky said :

And may I be the first to call for a suburb/major landmark to be named after Peter Leonard.

I don’t think I need to qualify why Peter is held in greater regard than virtually any other Canberra resident.

You would perhaps need to qualify naming a suburb or major landmark after a newsreader.

And may I be the first to call for a suburb/major landmark to be named after Peter Leonard.

I don’t think I need to qualify why Peter is held in greater regard than virtually any other Canberra resident.

Couple of things from above.

* Didn’t realise that there was a ‘leave him/us alone and no comment’ from family in February. On that basis he should have been left alone. In whose interest is it if he doesn’t want to make it anyone else’s business? Some people do a power of good by publicising their interests if it helps araise awareness/funds. But if his choice was to go to ground, shame on those who wanted THE TRUTH TO BE TOLD.

As for publicising the cause of death, again that’s the family’s cause.

“Mum, why did you tell everyone dad died of syphillus when he died of diarrhoea?”
“I wanted them to think of him as a great lover, not a weak sh!t.”

* Euphemisms — I mostly get the spelling of that wrong. I abhor them, but by Bob we all deal with grief in our own way, so let people be. My teeth go on edge when I heard, ‘I’m sorry to hear of your father’s passing’ (passing? no, he’s not passing anything) or ‘Your uncle’s gone’ (gone? he’s not going anywhere!) ‘I heard you lost your brother’ (“No, I haven’t lost him. His ashes are under a rock in Pioneers’ Walk at Norwood — look for the faded orange guitar plectrum’).

But that’s me, and the words death and dying are like red hot pokers to others, so let them be.

Not unexpected, but a tragedy anyway.

Almost as though a close friend has gone. Many years ago, Peter did the Saturday morning stint on the ABC. An absolute pleasure, and Peter indoctrinated me as a listener to the wonders of Stephane Grapelli. Another rare pleasure was when the normal weekday breakfast presenter on the ABC called in sick, and the clock alarm came on to Peter’s dulcet tones.

You will be missed.

tylersmayhem1:33 pm 24 Sep 08

This is horrible news. I was unaware that he was ill, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting his acquaintance on several occasions. A true gentleman, a great newsreader and a great loss to Canberra. My best wishes go to his family.

To touch on the point brought up about the lack of news coverage, I heard today that the family is requesting privacy. It’s good to see that the media finally have the respect to follow a families wishes for a change. I understand that some high profile celebs are in the media during such events, but I suspect this might often be because they choose to release details for their own personal reasons. I think the subject and point brought up are pointless and inappropriate.

Such a sad loss to hear about today.

I laughed and cried when he did his last news desk sitting last year (with all the memories of his career highlighted in a wonderful slide show) and thought at the time what great things was he to experience in his many years of retirement. And genuinely wished him well. To now hear that just over one year later he has gone is just such a shock.

I never met the man but as many here have said, he always was a gentleman. One with a cheeky sense of humour and so much wisdom. For so many years I looked forward to sharing my evening with Peter (via the news of course). WIN News was never the same without him.

My sincerest condolences to his family and friends at this extremely sad time. Rest In Peace Peter – you are most definitely missed.

Peter was the most down-to-earth gentleman I had ever met in the industry. He’s going to be missed, and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.

There is no problem with publicising the cause of death unless it, say, implies something about the dead person’s private life they wouldn’t like the world to know. Putting the cause of death is entirely standard in obituaries. In Peter’s case, it’s actually quite interesting. Could there have been an industrial link?

Wide Boy Jake12:25 pm 24 Sep 08

Quote: Wide Boy: I’m with sepi on this one – the public has no particular “right to know” about the personal life of someone in Peter’s position who’s retired from public life and wants privacy. If they want to keep details private, where’s the disgrace in honouring that wish? What is so special about your desire to know about the health of a former newsreader that should override his and his family’s desire for you to keep your nose out? Unquote.

I had no particular desire to find out this news, in fact I didn’t want to know about it, but the rumours were circulating and found their way onto this site, so the local media should have followed it up. I didn’t believe it at the time and I boycotted RiotAct for three months in protest, and when nothing more was heard I falsely assumed that the rumours (and the story on this site) were false.

We’re getting into Derryn Hinch “right to know, need to know” territory here, and I don’t believe it helps anybody to embark on such a debate at this difficult time.

Sad news indeed. Poor Alex Sloan was literally in tears on the radio this morning when talking about it. Peter always struck me as just a decent bloke without a hint of the pretentiousness or self-righteousness that seems to be a job requirement for most commercial news readers. Rest in peace.

Wide Boy: I’m with sepi on this one – the public has no particular “right to know” about the personal life of someone in Peter’s position who’s retired from public life and wants privacy. If they want to keep details private, where’s the disgrace in honouring that wish? What is so special about your desire to know about the health of a former newsreader that should override his and his family’s desire for you to keep your nose out?

Vale Peter Leonard – a gentleman and a wonderful colleague.

Sad day for the Canberra media community and the Canberra community in general.

My condolences to his family and friends.

I was one of those who didn’t believe it at the time (and thought it was in poor taste to announce unconfirmed (and unconfirmable) gossip about public figures.
But in defense, all I had to go on was an “I heard a story in a cafe” posting on a local website from someone I’d never heard of before.

Were I Mrs Leonard or one of the junior Leonards I’d be finding out who told what was a confidential medical fact to a bunch of people, which eventually spread into cafe gossip, though.

Sad news.

On the previous story – just because it was true doesn’t mean it was necessary.
If it were my family I would prefer to keep such news private, and tell people as I wished.

Wide Boy Jake11:38 am 24 Sep 08

I found it disgraceful that the local media all closed ranks and refused to confirm or deny the rumours of his terminal condition when someone posted the news onto this site last February. Only now – after his death – has the mainstream media bothered to give any information. The RiotAct was made out to be a scurrilous and disreputable site printing scuttlebutt when – as it now transpires – it was all true.

Wow – unexpected. Sad day for sure.

Skidbladnir said :

Credit where credit is due, we owe V8 Berliner with a three tier spoiler some kind of story link for the bit in February, which seems to be only a few weeks after his original diagnosis.

But this is still a sad day, and the man was a credit to his industry.

Missed that one when it was being run — deep in festival time in mid-Feb. Thanks for the track-back, Skid. I definitely would have remembered that if I’d seen it.

Why the f*ck can’t we use the word “die” any more?

Why the asinine euphemisms?

Credit where credit is due, we owe V8 Berliner with a three tier spoiler some kind of story link for the bit in February, which seems to be only a few weeks after his original diagnosis.

But this is still a sad day, and the man was a credit to his industry.

Damn.

Peter was a really great guy – bumped into him years ago in a lift – he was very down to earth and spent some time chatting as we waited for a delivery guy to get a large box out of the lift.

It is such a shame that he has passed away. I hope he wasn’t in pain.

My condolences to his family.

That is so incredibly sad. I remember seeing a bunch of the WIN crowd out at a Xmas party at Antigo’s only a few years ago and he seemed so vital, even though his Kris Kringle present was a zimmer frame!

I used to work in training and development, and Peter came in and did some media awareness training for the execs in my organisation. Tall as all get out, and an absolute gentle giant.

A very good man and Canberran.

I worked with Peter for four years at WIN, and he was a genuinely nice bloke. Very sad news to hear.

Cheers Pete, you were an old-style gentleman, and will be missed.

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