Prolific Toronto publisher Michael de Pencier dominated newsstands

Michael de Pencier was a small-time publisher in the summer of 1971 when his next-door neighbour on Toronto’s Ward’s Island, CBC radio host Peter Gzowski, suggested he buy a struggling magazine called Toronto Life.A year later, at age 37, he had bought the periodical for $1, staffed it with a can-do-anything team and proceeded slowly to build a magazine empire that dominated Canadian newsstands throughout the 1980s and 90s. Some titles, like Canadian Business and Canadian Geographic, were editorial ugly ducklings in need of transformation. Others, like Fashion and Canadian Art, were custom-made to serve a Canadian readership that had depended too long on periodicals from the United States.