Randy Turner, an award-winning Winnipeg Free Press writer in sports, news, features and columns for 31 years, died Wednesday at age 57 after a battle with cancer.
He built a career as a journalist making people laugh, weep and want to read on. His Twitter account, where he cracked wise nearly every day, has more than 65,000 followers — more than Manitoba’s premier and Winnipeg’s mayor.
Turner leaves behind a legacy of stories, the gift of his words and the memory of a man whose jovial personality leaped from the newspaper pages and warmed the hearts of readers and everyone he met.
“Our newsroom has lost a wonderful talent whose journalism was frequently judged to be among the best in the land,” said Free Press editor Paul Samyn. “Randy distinguished himself by way of the features he wrote, the bestsellers he penned, and yes, even the tweets that packaged up wit and satire in 140 characters or less.
The Free Press has published an excellent look back on Turner’s many accomplishments in a piece with an appropriate headline: ‘An amazing storyteller with a razor-sharp mind.’
