Gary Lautens

After graduating from Central Collegiate Institute in 1946, Lautens went on to study history at McMaster University where he was the editor of the campus newspaper The Silhouette from 1948 to 1950.

[citation needed] In 1982, Lautens was named managing editor of the Star, and successfully increased the paper's circulation and profits even in the midst of an economic recession.

Two further books collecting some of his most popular columns – Peace, Mrs. Packard and the Meaning of Life (1993) and The Best of Gary Lautens (1995) – were published posthumously.

[2][3] Upon news of Lautens' death, thousands of readers turned up at the Star offices, lining up for three days to sign books of condolence.

[4][8] In 2002 Lautens family donated his papers, including correspondence, columns, scrapbooks and photographs, to McMaster University Library's William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections.

In 2016 it was announced that the archives would become home to the copy of Lautens' 1984 column "Why can't the Queen shop Honest Ed's?"