Peter Calamai

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Peter Calamai CM (June 23, 1943 – January 22, 2019)[1] was an American-born Canadian science journalist.

Early life and education[edit]

Calamai was born in Berwick, Pennsylvania, the son of engineer Enrico Calamai and Jean Kennedy, and older brother to Michael and Paul.[2] He moved to Brantford, Ontario as a child.[3] He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from McMaster University in 1965.[1] While at McMaster, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Silhouette,[4] which won several national awards under his leadership.[2][5]

Career[edit]

As a journalist, Calamai started as a local reporter at the Brantford Expositor, then The Hamilton Spectator.[1] He joined Southam News in the early 1970s[3] as a parliamentary specialist and foreign correspondent in London, Nairobi, and Washington, before joining the Ottawa Citizen as an editorial pages editor in 1990.[1] In 1996, Conrad Black bought the Citizen's parent company, Southam, and shortly thereafter fired Calamai and his colleague, Jim Travers.[2]

From 1998 to 2008, Calamai was the chief science editor at the Toronto Star.[1] While at the Star, he was the first science reporter invited aboard the CCGS Amundsen, where he championed the importance of observing Earth Hour[6][7] and wrote a series debunking the claims of climate change deniers.[2]

As an academic, he was a Southam Fellow at Massey College in 1982–83, the Max Bell chair at the University of Regina School of Journalism in 1985–86, and a visiting associate professor in 1997–98 and adjunct research professor since 2001[8] at the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication, teaching as a sessional instructor and supervising numerous theses.[3]

He was a founding member of the Canadian Science Writers' Association, founding director of the Science Media Centre of Canada,[9] Fellow of the Canadian Association of Physicists, and Fellow of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.[8] He also served as a member of advisory boards to Environment Canada, NSERC, and the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network.[10]

Personal life[edit]

Calamai was an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes and was heavily involved with The Bootmakers of Toronto[11] and The Baker Street Irregulars,[2] literary societies devoted to the fictional character.

His other interests included conchology (with a specialization in the cowry), ornithology, astronomy, the genetic engineering of tomatoes,[10] choir, tennis, and golf.[2]

He died on January 22, 2019, at his home in Stratford, Ontario, after a period of heart-related health problems.[1]

Awards[edit]

Calamai won three National Newspaper Awards: in the Long Feature (William Southam Award; formerly Feature Writing) category in 1981, and in the Breaking News (formerly Spot News Reporting) category in 1984 and 1985.[12]

He won a Michener Award in 1987 for public interest journalism for his work overseeing a massive investigation series on adult literacy in Canada.[3][9][13] The next year, then prime minister Brian Mulroney officially launched the National Literacy Secretariat, and one year after that, Statistics Canada launched the first of its national literacy surveys.[2]

In 2008, he was awarded the CAP-COMP Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics,[8] "for his exemplary communication of science to the public, for his dedication to the promotion of science through the media, and for his advocacy for science in Canada."[10] The same year, he also received the Award for Distinguished Science Journalism in the Atmospheric and Related Sciences from the American Meteorological Society, "[f]or a four-part series on Arctic atmospheric research that captures the complexity of the science and takes the reader on a descriptive journey to one of the remotest parts of the globe."[14]

In 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.[2]

In 2014, he was named as a Member of the Order of Canada, before being invested in 2016, "[f]or his achievements as a science journalist and for his contributions to the cause of literacy."[9]

He was inducted into the McMaster Alumni Gallery in 1982[5][15] and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the university in 2015.[4][8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Boswell, Randy (January 23, 2019). "Remembering Peter Calamai: Journalist, Teacher and 'Advocate for Science, Literacy and Journalistic Professionalism' (1943-2019)". Carleton University. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Peters, Diane (February 13, 2019). "'Fair and fearless' journalist shone a light on illiteracy in Canada". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Crawford, Blair (January 22, 2019). "Peter Calamai (1943-2019): Award-winning journalist 'just wanted to know how the world worked'". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Campion-Smith, Bruce (January 23, 2019). "Peter Calamai, long-time correspondent and science writer, dies at 75". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Remembering journalist Peter Calamai '65". Daily News. Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs – McMaster University. February 14, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  6. ^ Petit, Charles (April 2, 2008) [Originally published March 31, 2008]. "(UPDATED*) Toronto Star: Newsman on an icebreaker, chasing leads, and proclaiming a polar Earth Hour". Knight Science Journalism. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Calamai, Peter (March 30, 2008). "Polar expedition blog". Archived from the original on October 23, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c d "CAP loses strong advocate with death of retired journalist Peter Calamai". Canadian Association of Physicists. January 23, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c "Mr. Peter Calamai". gg.ca. The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c "CAP Medal Press Release - 2008 Kirkby" (Press release). Canadian Association of Physicists. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  11. ^ "Peter Calamai, 1943–2019" (Press release). Science Media Centre of Canada. January 23, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "Winners since 1949". nna-ccj.ca. National Newspaper Awards. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  13. ^ "CBC-TV and Southam News tie for 1987 Michener Award". Michener Awards Foundation. Archived from the original on November 25, 2019.
  14. ^ "Search Past Award & Honors Recipients". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  15. ^ "CALAMAI, PETER "WHALE"". McMaster Alumni Association. McMaster University. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
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