Oliver George Hancocks

TORONTO, ONTARIO, APR 20 2023 – Oliver George Hancocks, who went simply as ‘George’ — he never liked ‘Oliver’ stating that was his father’s name — passed peacefully and quietly at Scarborough Grace Hospital on 20 April 2023. He was 90 years old. He was a writer and editor with over a half-century of experience. He has worked as a newspaper and radio reporter and editor, a wire-service editor, scriptwriter, group publisher, and editor of more magazines than he cares to remember. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Honors Philosophy, he gained his first working experience with The Canadian Press as a wire editor in 1956. He is a former editor of Canadian Homes Magazine, at one time Canada’s largest home-building and renovation magazine, with more than 1.3 million readers, and is well known as an industrial journalist, having worked for Canadian National Railways, Maclean-Hunter, Southam, and Alcan. In 1970 he founded, with his wife Libby, Canada’s only national family history periodical, Canadian Genealogist, where his contributions in graphic design, typography, editorial, publication and distribution made the magazine the success it was. In 2002 he co-authored five internationally recognized business books among which were Gutfeeling, Instinct and Spirituality at Work. Recently he collaborated with speaker and comedienne Catherine Lawrence in her forthcoming book Even the Winds Were Laughing and was writer/editor for more than 40 clients including the Anglican Church of Canada’s, Guide to the Archives of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. Experienced in virtually all types of writing, George has worked for industry, government, and private associations. He remained a freelance writer and consultant throughout his entire life, with poetry being his chosen genre of writing. Recently he started writing reviews of books he’d read on Goodreads introducing him to a group of writers around the world where he was free with his advice and knowledge. He is survived by son Seaghan and wife Sandi, daughter Shannon and husband Arastou Rafizadeh, son Casey and wife Kim, grandchildren Cristiona and husband Bill McKay, Alex, Stephan, Coral, Roya and Emma and great-grandchildren Brydon and Mikayla. Internment will take place at Glenwood Cemetery, Picton, Ontario in mid or late summer where his beloved wife, Libby is interred. His sense of humour and advice to authors around the world will be missed.

Oliver George Hancocks

April 20, 2023