CORNWALL, Ontario – If you ever watched the 6 o’clock news in the Cornwall area, you probably watched Max Keeping.
The beloved anchor at CTV News in Ottawa succumbed to a debilitating form of cancer on Thursday. He was 73.
A native of Newfoundland, Keeping began his broadcast career in Ottawa with CFRA in 1965 as a radio reporter before making the switch to television and eventually the anchor chair in 1972.
In 2003 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. By 2010 the cancer returned and could not be defeated.
His philanthropic ideals were well known in Ottawa, but also reached Cornwall. He was a member of Team Cornwall and the Max Keeping Foundation included a Cornwall chapter.
He attended local functions, including the popular annual business excellence awards and was a supporter of many area charities.
Keeping, by then retired from the news business, said creating a Cornwall chapter for his foundation was a way to focus on the plight of those who are less-fortunate.
“Poor kids dream too,” Keeping said in 2012 when the chapter was created. “And every child should be able to soar.”
The foundation was dissolved earlier this year and turned into a charity managed by the CHEO foundation. It will be used to help families facing extraordinary financial pressures when their child or teen suffers serious illness, disability or trauma.
As a fitting tribute Keeping’s dissolved foundation seeded it with $150,000.