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Lloyd Robertson, who delivered the news to Canadians in an authoritative and unflappable manner for over 40 years as anchor for the flagship news programs of CTV and CBC, has died. He was 92.
His death was first reported by CTV and was confirmed by a family member to CBC News.
Robertson stepped away as CTV National News anchor in 2011 after 35 years, having joined the network in a move from CBC that reshaped Canadian broadcast news. He had been anchor of CBC’s The National for six years.
“Someone came along with this … on my terms, in my life at precisely the right moment and it was irresistible, I couldn’t turn it down,” he told CBC’s Take 30 in 1976, days after accepting the offer.
At CTV, Robertson helped lead coverage of 11 federal elections, three Canadian-hosted Olympic Games and two Quebec referendums, as well as tragedies like the 1985 Air India bombing, 1989 Montreal massacre and the Sept. 11 attacks. He also helped share inspiring stories such as Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope.
CTV anchor stepping down after decades-long career, including 22 years at CBC
Robertson frequently spoke of enjoying being at the centre of attention for events shaping Canada and the world, but his on-air style was once accurately described as “self-effacing and lacking in the watch-me swagger of most news anchors,” by Globe and Mail television critic John Doyle.
Robertson was “the guy with the smallest ego I’ve ever seen in the television business, when he has a right to the largest one,” Henry Kowalski, former CTV news chief, told the same newspaper in 2001.
In addition to a number of industry awards during his career, he was inducted as an officer into the Order of Canada in 1997 and into the Canadian News Hall of Fame for the Canadian Journalism Foundation in 2016.
