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The Brampton Guardian
Head of The Guardian’s news department retires after 35 years
The Brampton Guardian
Monday January 12 2009
Pam Douglas
 
BRAMPTON - After 35 years in the news business, Brampton Guardian Editor-in-Chief Lorne Drury has retired.

Drury, 58, took early retirement at the end of 2008 and, while he is looking forward to having more time to travel and devote to his favourite sport— hockey— he hopes to keep his hand in journalism. He plans to continue writing automotive stories and he is interested in teaching the next generation of journalists.

“Lorne was an inspiration,” said Guardian Managing Editor Chris Vernon. “I admired him for his dedication to the community. He was always eager to respond to the needs of the readers. He was always happy to take time out of his busy day to reach out and make that personal connection with the readers.”

Something that isn’t easy in this day and age, he said.

“His presence will be greatly missed in the newsroom,” Vernon said.

Indeed, interaction with readers was one of Drury’s favourite parts of the job.
“Overall, what I loved about it so much is that you get to meet so many interesting people,” Drury said.

He’s interviewed high profile politicians including prime ministers, and hockey great Wayne Gretzky, among others.

“Those are things that the everyday person would never get to experience,” he said.
“I always had an interest in newspapers. I devoured them,” Drury said as he explained his decision to pursue journalism as a career. “I was always nosey. I always had that curiosity.”
He earned a BA from the University of Western and debated between journalism and law. He was accepted into law school, but after a one-year diploma course in journalism, also at Western, he had made up his mind.

“I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I liked the idea of getting to meet people. I find that was one of the things that appealed to me.”
With a keen interest in sports, he aspired to be a sports reporter and was hired in 1974 by venerable Guardian sports editor Ken Giles, who retired eight years ago.

Drury spent three years reporting on local sports before moving to The Guardian’s sister paper, The Oakville Beaver, as sports editor.

He made the move to news editor at The Beaver in 1979, partly because the hours were better, and partly because he wanted to broaden his experience. In 1981, he returned to The Guardian as editor, and remained here ever since. His title has changed over the years, and he became editor-in-chief in the 1990s, taking responsibility for sister paper The Georgetown Independent in the process.

Drury was running the newsroom when Publisher Ken Nugent took over the reins of the paper in early 1990.

“I’ve known him for 30 years, and we’ve worked together for almost 20 years,” Nugent said.
Nugent points to the many changes the paper has undergone with Drury at the helm, and the many awards the paper has won.

“He’s been an integral and central part of The Guardian during it’s biggest growth period,” Nugent said of Drury. “There’s no question his stamp has been on The Guardian, through major re-designs to changes in format.”

The receipt of awards is something Drury said is very satisfying, because it is recognition from peers that the newspaper has been on the right track.

“I don’t know how many awards we’ve won. I’m sure well over 100,” he said.

Guardian photographer George Beshiri has worked with Drury for the entire time, and he agreed Lorne played a key role in the changes made over the years.

“Lorne was a steadying force at the paper,” Beshiri said. “I think a newsroom needs that, some stability, and he provided it. He oversaw the evolution of the newspaper.”
Drury said watching the city grow so much and so quickly over those years presented a challenge for the newsroom.

“It’s been fascinating to watch the changes and it’s been interesting. We’ve really had to look at the way we cover things. We don’t have 400 people in the newsroom. You do the best that you possibly can with the resources that you have.”

But, that’s community journalism, and Drury has seen a lot of changes in the business, too.
“When I started, it was typewriters, and now it’s computers,” he said. “What we can do now in a short period of time would have been impossible when I first started. Putting the paper out was a day-long process, it was all done by hand.”

Now, computers have made it much faster.

“Technology has changed things tremendously,” he said, and it’s still changing.
“The skills are so different from what they used to be and they are going to change even more. We’re doing videos, blogs, and who know what’s going to happen in the future.”

He said he will miss his co-workers and the many Bramptonians he has met over the years, but he’s looking forward to a new chapter in his life.

“In all the time that I was here, we had a good group of people and we put out good newspapers,” Drury said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the product we were able to produce.”