Douglas Frith, a former politician who became Hollywood’s top emissary in Canada, died on the weekend at age 64 from an apparent heart attack.

Frith passed away at his Ottawa home on Saturday. There has been no immediate word on funeral arrangements.

Before joining the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association in 1996, Frith rose from his roots as a pharmacist and alderman in Sudbury, ON to represent that same riding for the Liberals in the House of Commons from 1980 to 1988. Frith also served as chairman of the consulting firm Hill Knowlton Canada before taking the top post at the CMPDA.

Film and TV executives on Monday paid tribute to Frith.

John Barrack, national EVP and counsel at the CFTPA, recalled the CMPDA boss for his skill in bringing the Canadian industry to his side when he championed studio interests in Ottawa.

‘What he did brilliantly was he wrapped the Canadian flag around U.S. interests in a way that wasn’t offensive,’ Barrack said.

Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, also recalled Frith’s common touch and charm that he honed as a glad-handing politician in Sudbury and Ottawa.

‘Doug was the kind of guy who you were always happy to meet on the street — he’d tell you a funny story, then ask you to do something, which you’d be pleased to do for him. He will be missed,’ Waddell said.

Tributes also came from Hollywood.

‘Doug was a champion of the industry, and a friend. The news of his untimely death is a shock, a true loss to those of us who worked with him and knew him,’ said Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, an ally of the CMPDA, in a statement.

While with the CMPDA, Frith crusaded for copyright reform to protect cultural products, and succeeded in securing Canada’s first anti-camcording law in 2007.

That achievement was clouded by the revelation that Frith had apparently begun a personal relationship with Patricia Neri, who served as director general of copyright policy at Heritage before she was reassigned as a special advisor to assistant deputy minister Jean-Pierre Blais.

Frith left the CMPDA in January 2008 to join Global Public Affairs, a lobby group in Ottawa.

Frith also sat on the Canadian Film Centre board, where he secured gains for the film industry, according to appreciative executive director Slawko Klymkiw.

‘You couldn’t have asked for a stronger or more loyal friend. Doug got things done. He was instrumental in securing benefits money from the Copyright Collective of Canada and in getting the Ontario government to commit to a long-term investment in the CFC,’ he recalled.