The RTDNA is pleased to announce that Gary Maavara of Corus Television is being posthumously inducted into the RTDNA Hall of Fame. 

Gary Maavara, a friend to news organizations and journalists, respected and admired by those who had the opportunity to work with him over many years. Gary started out his career as a lawyer but soon found his way into broadcasting. He touched every part of the business from executive producing, overseeing production of Olympic Games, VP of Operations, VP of Programming and special projects.  He wore many hats and won awards including an Emmy for his Olympic Games coverage.

In 2004, Gary became Executive VP and General Counsel for Corus Entertainment, overseeing all legal and regulatory affairs associated with the company’s extensive operations in radio, television, children’s books, and more. 

Mr. Maavara was a director of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Dancer Transition Resource Center, the Banff Television Festival, the Canadian Museum of Broadcasting, and the Centre for Cultural Management at the University of Waterloo. He also sat on a variety of committees of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. 

Mr. Maavara a graduate of Boston University and the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1983. 

While attending Boston University, where he achieved a B.Sc. summa cum laude in 1977, Gary found the time to do part-time work with concert promoters Donald K. Donald Productions, and freelance work for the Montreal Alouettes Football Club. He also managed to get part time work with ABC Sports on Monday Night Baseball, automobile racing, U.S. Open Golf, World Cup skiing and gymnastics. 

Gary Maavara also served on the boards of Telelatino, the SmartRisk Foundation, the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, Cosmopolitan Television, Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), and the YMCA of Greater Toronto and was a member of the ICT Advisory Board of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. He was on the advisory board of the Stratford campus of the University of Waterloo. He served as a director of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation, Canadian Women in Communication, and the Banff World Television Festival. 

Gary stepped down as General Counsel of Corus in 2017. He remained an officer of the Company until he stepped down as Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary in October 2019. Over the last 10 years of his career, he spent his time taking photographs of IMSA-class sports cars at racetracks such as Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Gary consulted with high-tech multimedia firms until he finally hung up his hat in 2019.

Gary was a pioneer in Canadian Broadcasting, he supported journalists throughout his career and RTDNA Canada is proud to remember Gary’s contributions with this honour.