Ottawa loses a true champion: broadcasting legend Max Keeping passes away

CTV Ottawa: Memories of Max Those closest to Max share their memories of Max. CTV's Joanne Schnurr has their stories.

A tidal wave of tears flowing in the capital today. Ottawa has lost its greatest cheerleader.

Broadcasting legend and community leader Max Keeping passed away after a long and debilitating battle with cancer. Max was 73.

Carol Anne Meehan was Max’s co-anchor for 22 years. “He was a selfless man who loved life – and lived it to the max. There will never be anyone like Max Keeping ever again.“

CTV Ottawa Chief Anchor Graham replaced Max when he retired, “ It wasn’t just about the news, charity work and public service. For him, it was the whole package…and it was huge.”

Long time weather man J.J Clarke spent 25 years with Max. ”Max was blessed with a rare gift. He was able to connect with people on-air and in person. I don’t think there was a hand he didn’t shake in our viewing region. “

CTV News at Noon anchor Michael O’Byrne was hired by Max in 1981. He remembers a tough boss with a huge heart. “He made us all better story tellers by demanding we do better. He made us better people by showing us the way.”

News at Noon co-host Leanne Cusack remembers Max as “A newsroom Dad to us all. Kind, creative, tough, brilliant, giving, loving, encouraging, fun and funny.”

“Upon his welcome in heaven, Max will be in his glory. Imagine a party that lasts an eternity?", says Regional Contact host Joel Haslam.

Winston Maxwell Keeping retired from CTV Ottawa five years ago after 37 years on the anchor desk.

Max moved to Ottawa from Grand Bank, Newfoundland in 1965 to work as a parliamentary radio reporter for CFRA. His ability to break stories helped to land him his first TV job as a national parliamentary reporter for CTV News

In 1972, after a failed run to become a Newfoundland MP – Max took over the anchor desk at CJOH, Ottawa.

As a newsman, Max was one of the best. As a community leader - there was no equal.

Max used his celebrity to support literally thousands of causes large and small. From the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario to step dancing competitions in the Ottawa Valley, it’s estimated that he helped to raise more than $100 million dollars over nearly four decades.

Max was always humbled by the recognition his good deeds received – and there were so many. CHEO named a wing in his honor in 2003. He was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. The City of Ottawa gave Max the key to the city. Broadcasters recognized him with a Gemini Award for Humanitarian work. And he received honorary doctorates from both uOttawa and Carleton University.

Max spent most of his journalistic career in front of the camera. But in 2003 he turned the camera on himself by announcing he had prostate cancer. By going public he helped to raise awareness about a diagnosis that was treatable if caught early enough.

In 2010 Max’s cancer returned and this time there was no cure.

No one loved children more than Max. Many of the families featured over the years on the CHEO telethon he hosted became lifelong friends. Max never turned down an invitation to visit a struggling child and family at CHEO.

Perhaps the most fitting legacy left behind by Max is the Max Keeping Foundation. It was set up in 1994 to support struggling children and families who had fallen through the cracks. The foundation raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was dissolved earlier this year and turned into a charity managed by the CHEO foundation called the Max Keeping Fund For Kids. It will be used to help families facing extraordinary financial pressures when their child or teen suffers serious illness, disability or trauma. Max’s dissolved foundation seeded it with $150,000.

Max always ended his newscasts by saying, “Thank you for taking time to make a difference in the life of a child.” Max led us all by example.

Max Keeping is survived by a loving family and a community he adopted as his own.