Bob Switzer, 86

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Long CBC Obit with many pictures
http://nwbroadcasters.com/Bob%20Switzer%20CBC%20obituary.pdf

Bob Switzer, CBC's beloved "Canadian Gardener" died on July 14 2015 at his Gambier Island home amidst the tenderness of family, his flowers and hummingbirds just weeks before his 87th birthday. Bob had planned more world travel adventures with Joley, his wife of 32 years. His steadfastness, lively conversation, optimism and enormous curiosity are profoundly missed. The celebration of his life will be held next year, June 2016. If you wish, make a donation to the Kidney Foundation of Canada or the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Bob was the only child of British Empire Loyalists, Nellie Rosamond (nee Palmer) and Henry St. John Switzer. He was born in Vancouver on August 26, 1928 and baptized Robert Edwin Mason Switzer at Christ Church in Vancouver. He was a child of North Vancouver who often took his little trout line to Mosquito Creek and hiked into the hills with his "bug", a candle lantern.

Then disaster struck when his family home burned and then, at age 14, his father died. Both events marked his life and ended his formal schooling. His single mom soldiered on managing rooming houses she owned in Vancouver. There, Bob spent time with men who had returned home from the World War, shell-shocked. He was curious about them and learned their stories. They were his introduction to the intuitive listening and interviewing gift that became so important in his later television career.
His father had impressed upon him what it was to be a man-to have integrity, to work hard and to care for people. So he set out into his teenage life with those ideas and a sense of adventure. He had many jobs, among them a lifeguard in Vancouver, a terrified miner in Britannia Mine, a dishwasher on the CPR trains and a shoe salesman.

He began his broadcasting career on radio in Edmonton. In his 20's he met his first wife, Lois Smith, with whom he had three children. He continued his radio broadcasting career in Port Alberni and finally at CJVI Victoria where he was asked to join the fledgling CBC Television station in Vancouver in 1955.
His career took off then. He accompanied the Royal Tours in 1959 and 1964. He evolved from being an announcer for CBUT news, a reporter, a host for several shows and finally an announcer/producer. He was always interested in the people he was interviewing and put them at ease.

Bob and his dad in their garden, 1934
Bob and Lois
Bob with microphone doing an interview for CJVI

Bob's pattern of broadcasting was developed on radio and transferred to tv with him finding good ideas and interesting people to interview, among them John Lindenlaub, his cooking partner in "Cuisine" in the 1960's, "On the Scene" in 1967 during which he led viewers through events and sights in the Vancouver area. In 1967 he was in Alberta for the CBC as one of four reporters for the first global broadcast via satellite as part of Our World.

In the 1970's he hosted his own half hour show called "Switzer Unlimited" which became "The Bob Switzer Show". Several guests appeared regularly to comment on particular subjects or demonstrate specific skills: artist Bill Alexander, environmentalists Barry Leach and Mike Halleran, broadcaster Guy Bannerman, Uno Langman on antiques, graphologist Hannah Smith, park naturalist Joley Aldam.
Bob loved British Columbia's and Canada's history and the outdoors. These interests sparked a series of seven half hours on marine life in the Pacific Ocean called "World Aquarium" in 1975. It was co-hosted with Dr. Murray Newman of the Vancouver Public Aquarium and went as far away as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Documentaries about Captain Cook and Captain Vancouver followed and a television series in 1977 called the "Northerners" which took place on location in northern British Columbia and Canada, as far north as Banks Island.

In 1965 Bob had married Julia Gosling in one of his favourite places, Hawaii. His second marriage was one of high energy, sophistication and a career with the CBC nearing its peak. Boating with his kids and Julia up the BC coast to Desolation Sound and Refuge Cove was a summertime joy.

Then, on a 1977 trip to New Zealand to visit Julia's mother, he was involved in a car crash that seriously shattered his leg. After weeks in hospital, it took a lot of effort for him to return to work.

He struggled to start the next phase of his life and found his next partner, Joley.
In 1982 he acquired property on Meziadin Lake and River in northern BC. Every summer he drove the 900 miles up the Fraser Canyon, onto the Cariboo plateau, past the Skeena River, across the Nass River to his little piece of heaven, that he shared with the McLeods. He was in his element in his little cabin in the wilderness with grizzlies, loons, and beaver and his passion, fly-fishing. He made good friends there, young and old. They would "howl at the moon" (drink into the night) telling stories as geese flew overhead in the evening darkness.

In the early 1980's he developed a partnership between the CBC with Provincial Parks in series called "Adventure BC" which took him to magnificent places such as Cody Caves, Fort Steele, St. Marys Alpine, Mount Edziza with experts on geology, wildlife and BC history. He also encouraged the CBC to partner with the UBC Botanical Garden and its education coordinator, David Tarrant in a show called "The Western Gardener". Beginning in 1982, it was broadcast from the roof of

John Lindenlaub and Bob 1963
Bob on the Meziadin River
Bob in his Meziadin cabin
Doug Sjoquist, Lisa Kolysnik, David Tarrant, Bob Switzer in New Zealand
Bob Switzer in a lady's garden in Point Roberts
Bob Switzer, far left, at a pupu party,
Mokihana, Kauai
the CBC's broadcast studios in Vancouver. The "Western Gardener" made three international trips to the gardens of Holland, New Zealand and Hong Kong in partnerships between tourism agencies of the host countries and CPAir. The "Western Gardener" had such great appeal that the CBC broadcast it across Canada under the new name, "The Canadian Gardener". Co-productions between the CBC and others were ideal for the kind of broadcaster Bob was, collaborative and never the expert, always the creative force in generating ideas and partnerships.

When he retired in July 1986, he found time on his hands even though he contracted himself back to the CBC to continue the "Canadian Gardener" which ended in 1993. All of a sudden he became very busy doing international promotional videos for the gold mining industry and for BC Sugar with Garth Fowlie. From 1993 to 2002 Bob participated as the judge in the Point Roberts newspaper's All Point Bulletin "Gardens by the Sea" contest. The contestants loved having Bob in their gardens. He was so positive and complimentary about all of them.

Although New Zealand had difficult memories, Bob was enchanted by the gardens people had. They influenced some of the plantings he had on Gambier Island. Twice, Bob and his naturalist wife Joley were tour guides of Canadians to the gardens of New Zealand under the auspices of the New Zealand Government.

Bob was fully engaged in life and always in partnership with someone. He was a great listener, was never rushed had a funny wit. On the road, on his boat or at home he was a superb story teller not just with the broad repertoire of stories he could tell but also the way he told them. There was always a humorous twist to at the end. He was very creative, his mind always busy with new ideas for programming even when he was retired. He was gracious in his stardom talking to people who would greet him with "You're Bob Switzer, aren't you?" He was gifted in getting those people talking about themselves.
Bob continued with his enjoyment of the wonderful subtropical climate of Hawaii. It comforted his bones and soothed his skin. Every winter from 1982 to 2015 he and Joley made their snowbird run to Kauai and finally bought time at Mokihana where he made many friends and engaged in the pupu parties that were a tradition.
Bob Switzer in front of Bill Reid's sculpture at Vancouver International Airport
Bob and Joley overlooking the Danube River and Budapest

Although home was the BC coast and part of his spirit was with the people of Northern British Columbia, in his work and retirement life he wanted to see other countries and experience other cultures and their cuisine. He was adventurous in his world travels from spending a month in Guatemala, cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam, walking streets of Istanbul, watching marine life from a glass-bottom boat in the South Pacific, or enjoying a musical performance in the restored 1800's theater in Manaus, Brazil. It was interesting how he could return from any trip and have a richness of stories that others who had gone on the same trip did not.

He did not dwell on the bad things life had brought him, including his health. He was optimistic right to the end that he would continue having adventures.
The celebration of Bob Switzer's life will be held in June 2016. If you would like to contribute to the photos or provide stories please let Joley Switzer know. Her email address is jole...@uniserve.com.