Rex Murphy, the Newfoundland-born pundit and wordsmith whose writing and often-blistering commentaries were the focus of a decades-long career in Canadian media, has died at the age of 77, according to the National Post.
“You might not agree with every word that he said, but oh, boy, could he say it,” said comedian and fellow Newfoundlander Mark Critch, who performed an impression of Murphy on This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
In a report published on the Post’s website on Thursday, the newspaper said Murphy died after a battle with cancer.
Speaking with CBC News, comedian Mark Critch shared memories of Rex Murphy, who passed away from cancer at 77. ‘I’ve only known a world with Rex in it,’ said Critch, reminiscing on when he was a boy, his father had worked with Murphy and that was how he first came to know the ‘man with wild hair, in a golden turtleneck.’
Critch told CBC News that he’d “only known a world with Rex in it,” explaining that he grew up next to a radio station where his father worked, along with Murphy.
“As a little boy, I remember seeing this man with wild hair in a golden turtleneck, listening to music with dad at the house and he was larger than life,” Critch said Thursday.
Murphy’s long career included many years with CBC. He was a National Post columnist at the time of his death.
He hosted Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio for more than two decades and was a familiar face to longtime viewers of CBC’s The National. His appearances on CBC-TV date as far back as the 1970s.
Kevin Libin, a long-time editor of Murphy’s work at Postmedia, spoke of the certainty that Murphy had in his writing and his work.
“When Rex had something to say, he knew exactly what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it,” Libin told CBC News on Thursday evening.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper, in a tribute posted on X, remembered Murphy as “one of the most intelligent and fiercely free-thinking journalists this country has ever known.”
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said the people in his province “are mourning one of our own tonight, and sending condolences to his family and friends.”
Murphy’s “quick wit and mastery of words were unmatched, and his presence was significant — whether or not everyone always agreed,” he said in a post on X.