The Toronto Sun is mourning one of its own after learning on Wednesday of the death of former longtime reporter Kevin Connor.
The 64-year-old scribe, who worked at the Toronto Sun from 2003-2025, graduated from the journalism course at Humber College and was an intern at the Toronto Sun while in school.
Following graduation, Connor started working at the Kenora Daily Miner and News, followed by stints at the Winnipeg Sun and the Edmonton Sun, the latter in 1999 where he was a general assignment and city hall reporter before coming back to the Toronto Sun.
“He was working at one of the western papers and he had good references,” said retired Toronto Sun City Editor Gord Walsh, who hired Connor. “He was general assignment. Solid guy. And you count on him. He was a fun guy and reliable. He’d come in, put his head down, and do his stuff. Throw anything at him and he’d do his best. He was a nice guy and pleasant to work with. He had a mischievous smile.”
Upon joining the Toronto Sun in mid-2003, Connor was thrust into frontline coverage of the fading SARS epidemic. Here, he developed key contacts in the medical field, which spurred his interest in health sciences.
Connor hit his stride as a health reporter
In the decades to follow, Connor made his mark as a health reporter — with a keen interest in the fight against AIDS — putting faces to important studies, trials and breakthroughs.
“Medical stories can be complex and somewhat dry, but he had the innate ability to put colour and personalities into them,” said Deputy Editor Kevin Hann.
Connor was also kind to newcomers in the newsroom, showing them the ropes, often in the most entertaining way, at least for me when he once danced around his desk but then stopped before anyone could see him. (Like that Looney Tunes top-hat-wearing, high-kicking frog character, Michigan J. Frog, who broke out into show tunes when no one was watching, and he later gave me a drawing of the cartoon character to remind me of his antics.)
As payback, I took him to a Fleetwood Mac show at Scotiabank Arena that I was reviewing and he seemed thrilled with the entire experience.
Given his Irish background, Connor also had a major soft spot for Ireland, travelling there many times over the years, and even taking a leave of absence at one point to work over for an Irish newspaper before coming back to The Toronto Sun.
“A quiet man by nature, Kevin’s Irish spirit sparkled during get-togethers with Sun staff, enjoying a beer followed by a double rye and ginger ale,” said Hann. “Away from the hustle of the newsroom, he made social gatherings special with his laughter and easy-going personality. He was proud of his family’s Irish heritage and routinely used vacation time to retrace his ancestors’ footsteps.”
Connor is survived by brothers Patrick and Hugh. “My mother and father followed his stories with great pride,” said Patrick. “His angle on the human experience was touching, poignant and direct. He was and forever will be our brother – full stop. Whether at Christmas or Thanksgiving, a chair was always there for you. He was his own man and that was clear from an early age. We did love our time at Ipperwash Beach each year. His love of horses was his passion until that was replaced by journalism.”
Patrick said Connor’s dog, Tasha, died at 21 and “she was loved by him and the entire family. That dog was in Strathroy, Edmonton, Kenora and Winnipeg. Wherever he was writing, he would go home every day at lunch to walk her.”
