President, Canadian Press

James Stuart Keate was born in Vancouver in 1913. He got his start in journalism at the Ubyssey, a student newspaper run by the University of British Columbia. After graduating in 1935, Stuart went directly into journalism as a sportswriter for The Province and then a feature writer at the Toronto Star.

During the Second World War he served as a war correspondent and information officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. After the war he worked for Time Life Magazine in New York and Montreal.

In 1950, Stuart came back to B.C. to become publisher of the Victoria Daily Times, a post he held for 14 years. Stuart then became publisher of The Vancouver Sun, and the same year, 1964, was elected president of The Canadian Press, as well as president of the Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association.

During the course of his career, Stuart encountered, corresponded with, and often befriended some of the most interesting personalities of the day including Lester Pearson, Bob Hope, Winston Churchill, Jayne Mansfield, Robertston Davies, Pierre Trudeau, Robert Kennedy, and Howard Hughes.

As an active community worker, Stuart raised money for a local Salvation Army senior citizens’ lodge, Brock House, and Variety. At the international level, he was founding chairman of the Canadian Committee of the International Press Institute. He was also a director of Freedom of the Press Committee of the Inter-American Press Association.

Stuart was a member of the Canada Council for two terms, the UBC Senate and the Board of Governors of UBC. He was elected to the Canadian News Hall of Fame in 1974 and was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1976. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from UBC in 1983.

After his retirement in 1978, Stuart wrote a memoir of his 45 year career called Paper Boy.