OSS 117
Senior Member
Is it just me, or do parts of that obituary seem kind of sarcastic and back-handed?Don Peat @reporterdonpeat 4 hrs4 hours ago
Obituary for former Rob Ford staffer Graeme McEachern in today's Sun
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Videodrome
Senior Member
I do find it interesting that he liked bikes and his boss hated them. Also, I had always wondered what he thought of Atlantic Canada going totally Liberal when he was a conservative.
EagleEye
Senior Member
I'd love to know who wrote it. It's like his life began in 2011 an outside of vague comments about sports and family, nothing personal was written. I wonder I a NS paper will also have an obit seeing seeing was from there and will be buried there.
He was quite religious yet no mention of anything religious.
He was quite religious yet no mention of anything religious.
Kat_YYZ
Senior Member
I found this, it's the same text as the Toronto Sun obit, except for the last line about the memorial.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/obituaries/1343345-mceachern-graeme
His sister is in Toronto, too. She and her husband seem to be doing very well in tech/apps business.
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2012/08/02/toronto-couples-app-puts-voice-to-photographs.html
Cooper
Senior Member
It's you.
Thinker
Active Member
Spin the cause of his death indeed. Graeme was not one to be bullied, he simply blocked anyone opposing his views. He would engage those who (perhaps) could not defend themselves and goad others who could, only to disable his account from twitter so it could not be traced and comments to be erased shortly thereafter. He had a problem which was pretty well evident when he worked for the Ford family, he enabled some of the behaviour and tolerated it as normal. The people at RFMG were to my knowledge never unkind to him and endured his wrath and occasional screaming outburst. I have always wondered about his self-esteem and his desire to 'serve' the Ford family. He was used and discarded by those who now praise him as working tireless and loyal! Yup too bad he didn't write a book about his love of Toronto and the Fords. I genuinely feel sorry for his family who now have to cope with the aftermath of his demise.
NYCBoy2305
Active Member
I didn't realize how old he was. He always sounded like a petulant 20 something
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pattycakes
Senior Member
I was also surprised at his age, I assumed he was in his late 20's at the most. I do remember feeling sorry for some of the staff, they were fresh out of school, and couldn't have been ready for the insanity of Ford's office.
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Videodrome
Senior Member
The anti-Tory people will be all over this.
pattycakes
Senior Member
It's not garbage collection, no one will care. If it doesn't smell, it doesn't sell.
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adma
Superstar
Well, emotionally stunted just like his boss--and compounded by how, unlike his boss, he *didn't* have the comforting air cushion of a rich, enabling, and politically connected famiglia. From whatever received rudiments we have, pre-Ford Graeme might as well have been a drifter--and an *angry* drifter at that. Bitter, lost, many times burnt and probably often through self-inflicted circumstance. And the utter threadbare wretchedness of his death notice (compounded by its being in the Sun, *not* the Globe or the Star--and probably "as he would have wanted it") demonstrates as much--beyond the "Coast to Coast" part, what's his pre-Ford background? Any degrees, achievements, etc? Or did he always carry a chip-on-the-shoulder distrust of higher education or anything that spoke of "elite achievement"?
Above all, that "He was smart, funny, generous with whatever he had. He was not a man of many possessions." part. Why single out the latter, especially? Are they trying to convey him as humble and selfless? For all we know, it might be euphemism for his spending his entire Toronto tenure, even under Ford's employ, couch-hopping or living in a rooming house with a hot plate and bare, hanging lightbulb--and not out of monkish austerity, but rather out of having previously (and still doing so?) foolishly blown his money on indulgences and pawned off whatever he had remaining. Ford's Toronto as his "destination of last resort", as it were.
Yeah, maybe we shouldn't be spending all these pages on Graeme. I agree there's an inevitable element of "karma" or "good riddance to bad rubbish" here. But, like it or not, he *is* the first literal casualty of (and from within) the Ford realm; and that's why this is one heck of a benchmark to dwell upon--not to mention that what I'm dwelling upon probably presages, as I've suggested, a Toronto Life-style feature article, something of that sort...
Videodrome
Senior Member
I always wanted to ask him what he thought about the Maritimes going totally red in the last election, given how he was a staunch conservative.
This is true. My wife was worried about picking up books at the library.
This is true. My wife was worried about picking up books at the library.
OSS 117
Senior Member
Saying he was "Known for always displaying extreme professionalism and courtesy" when he was known for the opposite, seems like an odd thing to add. And that "Knowing him meant you were always keenly aware of what team he supported in any arena" definitely seems to be trying to find a semi-nice way of saying he was---let's say (also trying to put it nicely)--"aggressively opinionated". Also, why say "He was not a man of many possessions"? Who needed to know that?
adma
Superstar
Sometimes, I wonder whether Graeme penned his own obituary. Either that, or the reported lack of possessions relates to what was found when he was discovered.
In some ways, that kind of determination to put on a presentable face to dire circumstance reminds me of Rohinie Bisesar (the PATH system stabber)
In some ways, that kind of determination to put on a presentable face to dire circumstance reminds me of Rohinie Bisesar (the PATH system stabber)
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