Gary Lautens

Who was Gary Lautens?

Gary Lautens was a Canadian humourist and newspaper columnist. He wrote for the Toronto Star from 1962 until his death.

Born in Fort William, Ontario and raised in Hamilton, Lautens began working for the Hamilton Spectator after school and in the summers when he was just 13 years old. He subsequently studied history at McMaster University, where he was editor of the campus newspaper The Silhouette from 1948 to 1950.

He subsequently rejoined the Spectator in 1950, working as a police reporter, sportswriter and columnist. Fans of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats once burned Lautens in effigy after he had written something unflattering about the team in the newspaper. He met his wife, Jackie, in 1957 when she was a contestant and he was a judge in the annual "Miss Tigercat" pageant.

In 1963 Lautens won the National Newspaper Award for sports writing for a column written for the Hamilton Spectator before he left for The Star.

In 1962, Lautens was hired by the Star to replace Pierre Berton. At the Star, Lautens became the most widely read columnist in Canada. He also hosted occasional television and radio programming on CBC Television. He was staff writer for many seasons of the iconic CBC series Front Page Challenge, also appearing as a regular guest panellist.