Cos De Giusti, Senior Editor At Toronto Star
Bill Schenley
By Nicolaas Van Rijn, staff reporter
Cos De Giusti lived his life in the crease.
He was equally adept at stickhandling the nightly news file at the
Star - where, as assistant managing editor, he supervised the editors
who put together the next day's newspaper - and on the ice, where he
played goalie in a never-ending series of pick-up hockey games.
And as a human being, his friends agree, he was a real keeper.
"Being a goalie, there's a sense of the game revolving around you,"
his wife Cyndy De Giusti said yesterday. "And, in lots of ways, that's
the way things were for him, both on the ice and in the newsroom -
being at the centre of things, in control, but able to stand back as
people did their work."
Mr. De Giusti, 55, died Saturday in Toronto East General Hospital of
cancer.
Managing editor Mary Deanne Shears said Mr. De Giusti was "a major
player in the newsroom, someone who had great influence on this
newspaper.
"He loved news and the thrill of deadlines," Shears added, "but no
matter the pressure, he remained calm and measured. Cos was a man of
great integrity. And he was a wonderful friend whom I shall miss so
much."
Assistant managing editor Alan Marshall, who succeeded Mr. De Giusti
on the news desk, where editors juggle with breaking news late into
the night, echoed the thought.
"Cos was a wonderful blessing as a friend and a joy as a colleague,"
Marshall said. "He was talented, well-skilled in the art of putting
out a daily newspaper, reliable, conscientious and the owner of a
quiet, friendly, fair-play sense of humour."
Mr. De Giusti wanted so much to remain involved, friends recalled,
that he would come in to work even as he battled cancer and struggled
with the effects of chemotherapy.
Bob Hepburn, a teammate and the Star's editorial page editor, said Mr.
De Giusti brought the same determination to both work and play.
"He was quiet, but he was very determined," Hepburn said. "He was
totally focused, he knew the strengths and weaknesses of everyone
involved. He never criticized, and always found room to encourage."
Former Star publisher John Honderich remembered "an editor in the
truest sense of the word. His quiet strength and impeccable judgment
made him someone whose opinion you always sought and valued."
Paul Archer, a veteran news editor who worked with Mr. De Giusti night
after night, remembered his "common sense and integrity.
"Cos was definitely the voice of common sense on the news desk, and a
man of integrity," Archer said. "He knew a good story when he saw one
and was able to marshal the relevant people together to get the story
and play it properly.
"At the same time, he led by example and treated people with respect -
and as a result earned that loyalty and respect back."
Born in San Giovanni, north of Venice in Italy's Friuli region, Mr. De
Giusti and his mother Caterina Rose came to Toronto in 1956 to join
his father Joe, who came here in 1952 as a construction labourer.
His first impressions fell short. "He expected cowboys and Indians to
be on the streets of Toronto," his wife chuckled, "so he was quite
disappointed."
Mr. De Giusti, who studied at the University of Toronto before moving
to Ryerson's journalism program, first joined the Star as a summer
student following his 1973 graduation. He moved to the Scarborough and
North York Mirror and Reporter, where he became managing editor, and
worked at the Daily Commercial News, a construction newspaper, before
rejoining the Star in 1981 as a copy editor.
By 1986 he was business editor, moving to the news desk - the eye of
the nightly news hurricane - in 1989. He was named assistant managing
editor in charge of the news desk in 1998.
"He was the best," recalled Nello Merante, chief messenger in the
Star's newsroom and a hockey teammate. "He lived for his hockey, and
although he worked late shifts in editorial, past the midnight hour,
he'd be on the ice at 7 the next morning. He was a great friend."
Assistant city editor Kevin Scanlon, another teammate, said "the very
qualities that made him a great goalie also made him a great editor.
He was always there to back us up when we made stupid mistakes. He was
a solid, respected performer both on the ice and in the newsroom."
In addition to his wife Cyndy, vice-president of child advocacy at
Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, Mr. De Giusti leaves his son
Christopher and daughter Catherine and a brother, Anthony, all of
Toronto. He also leaves his father Joe and his wife's parents, Ruth
and Ralph Malcolm, also of Toronto.
Visitors may call at the Funeral Home of O'Connor Bros., 1871 Danforth
Ave., between 5 and 9 p.m. today. The funeral Mass will be celebrated
tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. St. Brigid's Church, 300 Wolverleigh Blvd. at
Glebemount Ave.