Ian Montagnes, University of Toronto Press editor-in-chief, was a publishing powerhouse

Ian Montagnes, who died on Oct. 26 at the age of 93, was a powerhouse in the world of Canadian publishing, serving for a decade as editor-in-chief of the University of Toronto Press. He worked on everything from a series of books on the photographer Yousuf Karsh (not an easy man to work with), to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, a massive, years-long project.

A man who loved words, he took a three-year leave to go to the Philippines to teach plain writing at the International Rice Research Institute outside Manila. It was part of the green agriculture revolution, with students from Bangladesh to Barbados, and the object was to teach people to express ideas in clear language.