Bryn Matthews, the former president and long-time general manager of CJOH-TV (CTV News Ottawa) has died at the age of 86. Matthews was born on January 24, 1939, raised in Toronto and spent most of his working life in Ottawa. He moved to the Ottawa Valley in his early 50s. Matthews started his TV career as a trainee television director on ‘Coronation Street’ in Manchester, England. Upon returning to Canada, he was involved in Canadian television from 1965 to 1996, including with CJOH, CFTO, TVO and PBS. He worked at CFTO as a producer-director on the 6 p.m. news in Toronto and was a director for CTV’s W5, the investigative news program. After taking a short break to study at the Sorbonne in France, Matthews returned to Canada and moved to Ottawa in 1970s for an executive role at CJOH. Matthews produced shows like ‘You Can’t Do That on Television’, helped launch ‘Homegrown Café’ and produced several shows including CHEO telethons, and youth programming like Marie Soleil, High School Confidential and Denim Blues. He served on several boards, including the Canadian Club and CHEO, was the ‘Chair Bear’ of the Teddy Bears Picnic, sat on the Almonte General Hospital Board and was chairman of the board for Puppets Up in Almonte. Matthews was married for 45 years to Gaye Bennett. He is survived by Bennett, four children and five grandchildren. A funeral service will be held on Sunday at Almonte United Church on Elgin Street in Almonte. The service will be at 1 p.m.
