Babad, longtime Canadian biz journalist, dies at 66

Michael Babad, a longtime Canadian business journalist who was at The Globe and Mail in Toronto, died Thursday at 66 from cancer.

Andrew WIllis of The Globe and Mail writes, “For much of his career, Mr. Babad was part of a team that ran business coverage at major Canadian media outlets and helped chronicle the corporate agenda. As a Toronto-based wire-service writer and editor at UPI, his articles appeared around the world. A graduate of Ryerson University’s journalism program, Mr. Babad started his career at the Oshawa Times in 1977. He was editor of The Globe’s Report on Business section for two years, national editor of The Globe and business editor of the Toronto Star.

“‘I had many interactions with Mike in the last 20 years and the common thread was that he was always trying to do his best for The Globe,’ said Phillip Crawley, the organization’s publisher and chief executive ‘Over the last 12 months, he displayed an unbelievable strength of spirit as he carried on working while battling his illness. He was an excellent journalist but an even better man. We mourn for him and his family.’

“In recent years, Mr. Babad wrote a daily ‘Business Briefing’ each morning for The Globe’s website that consistently ranked among the platform’s most-read articles.”

Read more here.