the problem is that he was a public figure, which opens him up to a level of criticism that most don’t have to face; as for the wink-wink dime-a-dozen Madmen approach of this article, remember that you are discussing real people who didn’t have access one of their parents, which most people would consider somewhat sad and might nudge you to be more sensitive about the subject…just saying

So, Wente’s defense against the accusation that Gzowski had a bad side is that Gzowski had a bad side?

The biographer went out of his way to exaggerate his portrait of Gzowski, claiming he was a “genius” with a “dark side”. Granted, Gzowski was a fine radio host, but a genius? I don’t think so. And a few mistakes or character flaws hardly add up to a “dark side”. Gzowski was a fairly ordinary guy, who was good at his job and had imperfect relationships. But that isn’t dramatic enough to generate book sales, and so we got some artificial controversy instead.

Re the claim made by Alison Gzowski and siblings that they refused to speak to this “mean spirited” and “ill informed” biographer during the research and writing of Peter Gzowski, A Biography:

Really? My email records show exchanges with Alison and Peter C. Gzowski on subjects such as family birth dates, their father’s high school records and so on. Furthermore, on 8 July 2003 Peter C. had lunch at my place, during which we discussed, among other things, my proposed biography of his father. About a week later, Peter wrote to tell me that he had been in touch with Gillian Howard, his father’s last partner. In his email, he included the following from Ms. Howard: “I suppose that a biography is inevitable, and I guess the only choice is whether it’s ‘authorized’ or ‘unauthorized’. In the first case, everyone cooperates and talks and in the second, everyone pretends it isn’t happening and bitches afterwards.” Hmmm.

Would Peter Gzowski himself like this biography? Gillian Howard has already answered that question. “Peter’s attitude,” she wrote to Peter C. Gzowski in July 2003, “would be one of discomfort but, given that he made his living asking questions of others, he would just shrug and hope that the effort would be a well-researched and interesting portrait that people would find readable.” Well spoken.

Rather than bitching over articles, reviews and interviews, and rather than blaming the host and producers of The Current for not having verified my sources, the children of Peter and Jennie Gzowski would do well to read the biography, including its 1,000 detailed explanatory endnotes. I guarantee that they will discover a readable, well-researched and balanced portrait of their father, whose stature in the pantheon of Canadian and international broadcasting is in no way diminished by the fact that I discovered a real human being called Peter John Gzowski.

Sincerely, R.B. Fleming

How delightful! Wouldn’t Peter Gzowski have enjoyed all this free publicity, born (no pun intended) out of revelations of his tendency to have human failings, as do many of us. When it comes to book sales, there is no such thing as bad publiciity, so perhaps Mr. Gzowski will savour some additional, postumous, success.

RB Fleming sure has raised a hornet`s nest of comments..See blogs in The Globe & The Star..i.e. ” bottom feeder…badly written..another second rater…Kitty Kelley Lite..wrong author”..Too bad the Bloggers never got to Pages 398-511 of the book where the author details his six years of research..79 pages of Notes..13 pages of Bibliography and 4 pages of Acknowledgments. At least 5 Canadian University Archives as well as several City archives were consulted. A host of people at the CBC who had worked with Peter were forthcoming….Fleming`s penchant for getting at the facts once again shines through..Pity he has to take such a kicking…