Gord Hume

Gord Hume was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on 26 October 1949. He started his working life in journalism, covering city hall in Saskatoon as a young reporter, and later said his passion for building good communities dated from those years. He had two sisters, Lorraine Harvie and Valerie Jean (VJ) Hume.

Hume moved to London, Ontario, in 1980 and became one of the best known figures in the city's media. He managed the radio station CKSL, became president of its parent company, London Broadcasters Limited, and was the founding publisher of The Londoner, which grew into one of Canada's largest independent community newspapers. He produced three record albums and many radio and television programs, won two Broadcaster of the Year awards, and served as president of the Central Canada Broadcasters Association and treasurer of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. He was also president of the London Chamber of Commerce and chair of the Parkwood Hospital Foundation. In 1988 he founded Hume Communications, a consultancy advising municipalities and community groups.

Hume was elected to London city council in 1997 as a councillor for Ward 7 and won four elections in all. From 2000 he sat on the city's board of control, which prepared the budget and oversaw corporate services, until the board was abolished and he retired from politics in 2010. He chaired the London Police Services Board, the London Public Library Board and the city's Creative City Task Force. He was a key member of the Millennium Committee, set up in 1998 to revitalise downtown London, whose plan led to a new Covent Garden Market, the Central Library and the John Labatt Centre, now Canada Life Place. "There are sprinkles of Gord Hume throughout London," said former councillor Cheryl Miller.

After politics Hume became a nationally known commentator on municipal government. He wrote seven non-fiction books on local government, cities and cultural planning, including Getting Cities Right, and co-wrote two more. He was the first chair of Ontario Municipal Cultural Planning Inc, an adjunct professor at Western University, a national columnist on local government and a keynote speaker at conferences in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. He also published comic mystery novels about Samantha and the Sheriff, the most recent of which, Pirates and Peril, appeared in 2025.

In his self-written obituary Hume said he had been fortunate to have "three very special women" in his life at different times, and he thanked his sisters and his friend Carol Stephenson. He travelled widely and enjoyed cooking and collecting chess sets from around the world.

He wrote that, unknown to most people, he had lived with chronic pain and endured ten major surgeries. In 2025 he spent two months in hospital after pneumonia developed into sepsis, and a St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation profile said he had twice been declared legally dead in hospital before recovering slowly at Parkwood Institute.

Gord Hume died on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at the age of 76. He was due to turn 77 on 26 October, the day of London's municipal election. No cause of death was given.

His obituary, which he wrote himself and which was posted by Harris Funeral Home, began: "And so I have departed. I hope it was a good death. I despise the usual obits, so I am offering some final thoughts." In it he wrote that public service is noble and that he had left his city a little better than he found it, but that London was not reaching its potential and needed "a passionate conversation about its priorities and future."

A visitation was arranged at Harris Funeral Home on 18 October and a memorial gathering at the London Hunt and Country Club on 19 October; he noted that he expected Scotch to be served at the reception. He asked that memorial gifts go to the London Public Library, Parkwood Hospital or St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation. Former councillor Megan Walker remembered that whatever their disagreements, "we were always very kind to each other."

Hume left a visible mark on downtown London through the Millennium Committee projects of the late 1990s and 2000s, including the Central Library and the arena now called Canada Life Place. Beyond London, his books, columns and speeches made him one of the better known Canadian voices on municipal leadership, creative cities and cultural planning. He summed up his own view in his last words to the city: "I believe that public service is noble and that I left my city a little better than when I began."