HEATHER MARGARET ROBERTSON

HEATHER ROBERTSON (HEATHER MARGARET ROBERTSON MARSHALL) Born March 19, 1942, Died March 19, 2014 Beloved wife of writer/broadcaster Andrew Marshall; mother of film editor Aaron Marshall; step-mother of art archivist Amy Marshall Furness and much-loved mentor to numerous budding writers in Canada. Heather will be terribly missed by family and the many friends and colleagues she made during her very productive writer's life. Heather will be best remembered for her magazine journalism and her many books, including best-sellers, Reservations Are for Indians, Grass Roots and her award-winning first novel, Willie, A Romance, as well as the other novels and non-fiction works which followed over a more-than-40-year writing career. These include, Salt of the Earth, The Flying Bandit, More Than a Rose, Writing From Life, Measuring Mother Earth and her most recent book, Walking Into Wilderness, which won the inaugural Ontario Speaker of the Legislature Award in 2013. She gave to her profession through more than her work, being a founding member of both The Writers' Union of Canada and The Periodical Writers Association of Canada. She also carried the quill for just remuneration of electronic versions of freelance writers' works in the definitive class action lawsuits, Robertson v. Thomson 1 and Robertson 2 which followed. Robertson 1 went to the Supreme Court of Canada and successfully enshrined freelance writers' copyrights in electronic publications of their works for the future. The resulting settlements remunerated writers for works previously published without their agreement in databases and in electronic versions of newspapers and magazines. She was also president of the King Township Historical Society, a member of the York Pioneer & Historical Society and gave her time to many other worthwhile pursuits over the years. She died in her sleep after successive breast, colon and brain cancers, in the early hours of her 72nd birthday. She continued to work during this long period of illness, delighting in her children and their four little boys, her adored grandchildren, Jackson (8), Cameron (6), David (5) and Daniel (1). Memorial Gatherings will be arranged in both Toronto, where she lived for 22 years and King City/Aurora area, where she spent her last 18 years, in the near future. For information about these, please contact Andrew Marshall via email at Andrew@audio-ideas.com