Chuck Davis – BC BookLook

January 14th, 2016

The ultimate expert on all historical matters pertaining to Vancouver, Chuck Davis, routinely asked students in Vancouver area schools to name the person who this statue behind City Hall represents. His listeners always guessed it was George Washington. In this way Chuck Davis could kindly begin the process of educating his audiences as to how little they knew about their city. As a congenial radio host, quizmaster, newspaper columnist, author and master gatherer, Chuck Davis continuously popularized B.C. history from the publication of his magnum opus, The Vancouver Book (1976), until his death in 2010.

Born in Winnipeg in 1935, Chuck Davis was in broadcasting for many years, beginning with the Canadian Army radio station, before he returned to B.C., a place he had first visited at age nine. His eagerness to spread lively information about Vancouver, while gaining precious little compensation for his indefatigable services, made him worthy of a civic stipend, but unfortunately he never received any ongoing support. Mayors Gregor Robertson and his predecessor Sam Sullivan were both in attendance when Davis received the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding British Columbia literary career on October 14, 2010. It was Davis’ last public appearance.