Founding editor of Langley Times passes away
Roy Clancy, who was the original editor of The Langley Times when it began publication in 1981, passed away on Sunday in Calgary. The cause was "a swift battle with cancer." He was 63.
An obituary in today's National Post noted that he was a "consummate journalist with a keen eye for the written word." He had worked for the Calgary Sun for more than 25 years, as editorial page editor and columnist.
He came to Langley to help launch a competitor to the long-established Langley Advance, which has been in operation since 1931. Publisher Gerry Maginn and his business partner and brother-in-law Stan Fenton decided to take on The Advance, even though it was a tough time to start a newspaper. Interest rates were at record highs and unemployment numbers were also high. Some people were actually losing their homes in Langley because of an inability to pay their mortgages.
The Times was a free-distribution tabloid, with a visual and written style very different from the very staid broadsheet Advance, which was a paid circulation product. At various times The Advance had also published a freebie "Advertiser," distributed on weekends. I can't recall if it was doing so when The Times started up.
While longtime Advance owner and publisher Jim Schatz called it a "throwaway," it did catch on with a significant number of readers right away and attracted advertising support, including an ad in in the initial edition from Preston Chev-Olds, owned at that time by George Preston, who served on two occasions as mayor of Langley Township and was a very significant presence in the community.
The Times introduced the "Girls of the Week" to Langley. This was a photo feature that the Toronto Sun had brought to Canada. Those who appeared in The Times were quite modestly-attired, when compared to their counterparts in the Suns in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. Of course, The Sun in Great Britain went all out with nude girls posing in its pages - something that no Canadian newspaper has ever attempted.
Roy was at The Times until sometime in 1984 or early 1985, when he was replaced by larger-than-life John Pifer, who quickly took The Times to a new level by being ever-present in the community and writing salacious commentaries (for Langley) about local notables, particularly "Our Bob" (Wenman, MP for Fraser Valley West). Pifer had a field day when Wenman ran for the Social Credit leadership in 1986.
The Times was sold in 1986 to Trinity (N.A.) Holdings, which owned a number of other Fraser Valley community newspapers. Trinity's Canadian properties were sold to Black Press in 1997.
After Pifer left in 1987 to pursue a career as a freelance reporter and commentator in Victoria, he was replaced by Gord Kurenoff for a short time. Subsequent editors have been Mel Kositsky, Lance Peverley, Bill Inglee and Paul Bucci, who served as acting editor in 1998-99.
I was privileged to be offered the job in 1999 and enjoyed it thoroughly right up to the moment I retired last June.
My successor is longtime Times reporter, arts and entertainment co-ordinator and assistant editor Brenda Anderson. She and The Times editorial staff continue to do an outstanding job of covering the community. The Times has won many awards over the years, most recently a first-place photo award from the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers Association. The heartwarming photo of Jose Figueroa and his wife embracing, as he emerged from Walnut Grove Lutheran Church where he had taken refuge for more than two years, was taken last December by Dan Ferguson, who is now working for the Abbotsford News.
Roy and Gerry started the ball rolling way back in 1981, and it's still rolling on today, as The Times has noted with a number of special stories and features around its 35th anniversary.
An obituary in today's National Post noted that he was a "consummate journalist with a keen eye for the written word." He had worked for the Calgary Sun for more than 25 years, as editorial page editor and columnist.
He came to Langley to help launch a competitor to the long-established Langley Advance, which has been in operation since 1931. Publisher Gerry Maginn and his business partner and brother-in-law Stan Fenton decided to take on The Advance, even though it was a tough time to start a newspaper. Interest rates were at record highs and unemployment numbers were also high. Some people were actually losing their homes in Langley because of an inability to pay their mortgages.
The Times was a free-distribution tabloid, with a visual and written style very different from the very staid broadsheet Advance, which was a paid circulation product. At various times The Advance had also published a freebie "Advertiser," distributed on weekends. I can't recall if it was doing so when The Times started up.
While longtime Advance owner and publisher Jim Schatz called it a "throwaway," it did catch on with a significant number of readers right away and attracted advertising support, including an ad in in the initial edition from Preston Chev-Olds, owned at that time by George Preston, who served on two occasions as mayor of Langley Township and was a very significant presence in the community.
The Times introduced the "Girls of the Week" to Langley. This was a photo feature that the Toronto Sun had brought to Canada. Those who appeared in The Times were quite modestly-attired, when compared to their counterparts in the Suns in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. Of course, The Sun in Great Britain went all out with nude girls posing in its pages - something that no Canadian newspaper has ever attempted.
Roy was at The Times until sometime in 1984 or early 1985, when he was replaced by larger-than-life John Pifer, who quickly took The Times to a new level by being ever-present in the community and writing salacious commentaries (for Langley) about local notables, particularly "Our Bob" (Wenman, MP for Fraser Valley West). Pifer had a field day when Wenman ran for the Social Credit leadership in 1986.
The Times was sold in 1986 to Trinity (N.A.) Holdings, which owned a number of other Fraser Valley community newspapers. Trinity's Canadian properties were sold to Black Press in 1997.
After Pifer left in 1987 to pursue a career as a freelance reporter and commentator in Victoria, he was replaced by Gord Kurenoff for a short time. Subsequent editors have been Mel Kositsky, Lance Peverley, Bill Inglee and Paul Bucci, who served as acting editor in 1998-99.
I was privileged to be offered the job in 1999 and enjoyed it thoroughly right up to the moment I retired last June.
My successor is longtime Times reporter, arts and entertainment co-ordinator and assistant editor Brenda Anderson. She and The Times editorial staff continue to do an outstanding job of covering the community. The Times has won many awards over the years, most recently a first-place photo award from the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers Association. The heartwarming photo of Jose Figueroa and his wife embracing, as he emerged from Walnut Grove Lutheran Church where he had taken refuge for more than two years, was taken last December by Dan Ferguson, who is now working for the Abbotsford News.
Roy and Gerry started the ball rolling way back in 1981, and it's still rolling on today, as The Times has noted with a number of special stories and features around its 35th anniversary.
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