Former Montreal biz editor dies

James Ferrabee, the business editor of the Montreal Gazette from 1989 to 1996, died Friday at a hospital. He was 72.

Jan Ravensbergen of the paper writes, “Stints for Southam followed in Paris, Ottawa, then London through to 1989, when Ferrabee re-joined The Gazette and became the paper’s business editor, the post from which he retired from day-to-day journalism in 1996.

“‘He had a global point of view — and he was always very cordial about the way he shared it,’ said David Yates, who succeeded Ferrabee as the section’s editor.

“Ferrabee remained remarkably active in semi-retirement, as a stock-market columnist, corporate consultant and commentator on political and economic affairs with the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

“And he finally fulfilled a long-time ambition last December, with the publication by McGill-Queen’s University Press of Staying Connected: How MacDougall Family Traditions Built a Business over 160 Years. The book, which he co-wrote with Michael St B. Harrison, takes a wide-angle long-term view of the development of Montreal business.”

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