Lawrence S. Solway

Larry was a real mensch. I listened to him on the radio as a child as he dealt with ranters and ravers and was wowed by the fact that he never kowtowed to his callers. Somehow I got connected to help with some set building when he and Naula Fitzgerald had a theatre somewhere NE of Toronto and during one of our drives back and forth at that time he, when asked about his acerbic responses to callers on CHUM radio back when, said "People don't have a right to an opinion, they have to earn it" -...

We met Larry and Shirley through our mutual friend, Brian Barker, who, like Larry had a long radio career in and around Toronto. Once Brian retired from Country 59, he effectively became First Mate on Larry's beautiful Dreamsend, sailing with Larry almost every weekend from spring to fall for several years. Meeting Larry in the 90s on a weekend sail was a great pleasure as I had known his name from the 1960s when he was a driving open-line force with CHUM 1050 on "Speak Your Mind".
In...

Less well known is how much Larry loved music. In its first 4 years, CHUM-FM was totally fine arts, classical music. Larry did an hour's program each night, talking qith equal knowledge and passion about the music and the performers he would be playing. I was librarian and programmer, and down the years shared many hours of good talk with Larry and Shirley and some wonderful meals, for we all loved good food. There were some unforgettable sails on Dreamsend including one magical moment...

Good memories of Larry the story teller. He taught me at broadcasting school. He was a likeable, transparent and good spinner of yarns. He was what you saw, no more, no less. The name of one of his boats "Bingo Player", kind of said it all.

I first met Larry in 1978 when I had my boat at Oshawa Marina, & we often had coffee & dougnuts together during breaks when getting our boats ready for launching, he was very proud of his boat called "Dreamsend" which he kept at the Island Yacht Club in Toronto. Larry was a big part of my daily life when i came to toronto in 1962, I never missed him on Chum Radio. I now feel sad for his passing, as he reminded me of a very happy time in the 60's & 70's in Toronto, rest in piece my friend.

Memories of bobbing our way across Lake Ontario from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake with no wind in our sails. Exchanging heated views in the corridors of CHUM. Taking the CHUM chopper to Mosport. Memories of a warm and delightful friend. I miss him. He was what Toronto is all about. Take care, Shirley.

Thankyou for the memories Larry , I know right now there is some one in Heaven "Speaking his mind". R.I.P.

I am sorry to hear of the loss of this man. I do know him through my late dad. I used to listen to his talk show on Chum years ago. Speak Your Mind.
I have met him personaly. he was a tall man who had an opinion on everything.
he later was heard on CFRB for a short time.
I wondered what happened to him over the years. Now I know. May he rest in peace now...