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Duart William Farquharson

Husband, truth-seeker, athlete, foreign correspondent, proud Canadian, romantic. Born Jan. 11, 1935, in Ottawa. Died March 26, 2011, in Vancouver of cancer, aged 76.

From his earliest years, Duart Farquharson had a deep curiosity about people – what they were thinking, what they did and why they did it. After his formal education he gave full effect to this bent in a distinguished 50-year career as a journalist, following in the footsteps of his father, a former managing editor of The Globe and Mail. He was the only child of Robert and Rica Farquharson.

Duart was an all-rounder. At Whitney Public School in Toronto he played on the school's city championship hockey and softball teams, and at the University of Toronto Schools he played on the first hockey and football teams.

After graduating from UTS he entered Trinity College at the University of Toronto and took the modern history course. He played for two years on the university's championship intermediate football team. In his final year, he was elected by fellow students as head of arts, the highest undergraduate position at Trinity.

He began his newspaper career at The Montreal Star in 1956, then moved to the Winnipeg Free Press. While he was a correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press in London, he met and in 1963 married Nassrin, an Iranian who worked as a nurse. He called her his "Persian Princess."

In 1963, Duart joined Southam News Service as a foreign correspondent. He served in Paris, London, Cairo, Washington (at the time of Watergate) and spent stints in Ottawa and Toronto. While abroad he travelled extensively in the Middle East and developed a special interest in Middle Eastern affairs.

His final assignment was with the Edmonton Journal, where he was associate editor and managed the editorial board. Following this he moved to Vancouver in 1999 so he and Nassrin could be closer to their home in Tofino on Vancouver Island, a source of great pleasure and relaxation for them.

Duart was regarded by his professional colleagues as the quintessential role model. He was respected for his open mind, his championing of the underdog and his questioning of abuses of power. While recalling his days in the Middle East to a colleague, he said from the time he was a child he dreamed of living there and, also, of marrying someone from there. He observed that "you could say my dreams came true."

Duart persuaded Nassrin's family to settle in Canada and helped them integrate into their new culture. He was a proud Canadian. His three loves were journalism, his country and, above all, Nassrin.

His nephew, Sam Mossaed, noted that when Duart spoke of Nassrin, the sparkle in his eyes "was the same sparkle one sees in their wedding photograph" – confirmation that his dreams had, indeed, come true.



John Morden is Duart's friend of 70 years.

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