Mel Hurtig
| Mel Hurtig | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 June 1932 Edmonton, Alberta |
| Died | 3 August 2016 (aged 84) Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Occupation | Publisher, author, political activist |
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Mel Hurtig, OC (24 June 1932 – 3 August 2016) was a Canadian publisher, author, political activist, and political candidate. He was president of the Edmonton Art Gallery, and a noted political activist who wrote several books critical of the Canadian government and its various policies.
Hurtig was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1932. His parents were Jewish; his father was from Romania, and his mother from Russia. He grew up in Edmonton, was an alumnus of the Edmonton Talmud Torah, and graduated from high school there.
Hurtig worked in his father's store, selling furs, until 1956. He then opened a book store, Hurtig Books, which later grew into a large retail book operation with three locations. His stores featured staging of plays, readings of poetry, and encouraged social interaction, and, unusually, permitting drinking coffee.
After selling his stores in 1972, he established Hurtig Publishers Ltd., with $30,000 in borrowed money. It became "one of the liveliest book publishing companies in Canada." In 1980, he started work on The Canadian Encyclopedia, spending $12 million on a comprehensive three-volume national encyclopedia first published in 1985. A second edition, which took four years to complete and cost $8.5 million to produce, appeared in four volumes in 1988. Much to the surprise of the publisher, the second edition was unexpectedly sold at up to a 55% discount by national companies, roiling the market.
In September 1990, Hurtig published the five-volume Junior Encyclopedia of Canada, the first encyclopedia for young Canadians. He sold the company to McClelland & Stewart in May 1991.
Hurtig was an Officer of the Order of Canada, was granted honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from six Canadian universities, and was the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award.
After supporting Pierre Trudeau's bid for Liberal leadership, he ran as a Liberal in the federal riding of Edmonton West, in 1972 and finished second to longtime incumbent Marcel Lambert.
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