Joan Donaldson 1946-2006

Joan Donaldson, a founder of CBC Newsworld, died Sept. 7 from complications of a brain injury she suffered in 1990, after being struck by a bicycle in Montreal. She was 60. Donaldson joined CBC in 1967 as an editor with National Radio News and worked as a senior editor on CBC Radio’s The World at Six and Sunday Morning Magazine. She joined CTV as a field producer on W5 in the 1970s, and also taught journalism at both Ryerson University and the University of Western Ontario. Donaldson returned to CBC in 1984 and helped launch Newsworld in July 1989.

Brian Nolan 1932-2006

Brian Nolan – a seasoned news producer who worked for CBC, Global, CTV and ABC News along with Peter Jennings – has died at the age of 74. Nolan joined CTV News in Ottawa for his first television job in 1961, where he met and teamed up with Jennings. When Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, Nolan and Jennings were only a few meters away. Nolan retired from television and took up teaching in 1978 at Carleton University’s School of Journalism. Like Jennings, Nolan also died of lung cancer.

Ray Arsenault 1929-2006

Director, producer and founding member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Ray Arsenault died of a pulmonary embolism in Toronto on Aug. 27. He was 77. Arsenault produced one of the first live TV events in Canada for Hamilton’s CHCH in 1954, and is credited with molding Hockey Night in Canada into its current format by determining how to run ads on the show. His daughter is CBC News foreign correspondent Adrienne Arsenault.