Lloyd Robertson

Lloyd John Robertson was born on January 19, 1934, in Stratford, Ontario, to a working-class family that knew both hardship and love. The youngest of his father's ten children, Lloyd grew up in circumstances that might have dimmed a lesser spirit. His mother's severe illness — culminating in a prefrontal lobotomy in 1948 — and the death of his father from cancer when Lloyd was just 21 left indelible marks on his character. Yet it was at age 12, watching CJCS radio broadcasters cover the homecoming of Perth Regiment soldiers from World War II, that Lloyd found his calling. In that moment, he understood that broadcasting could do something profound: help people make sense of the world around them. He took his first steps at CJCS Radio in Stratford in 1952, working weekends as an operator and news reader while still in high school. By 1956 he had joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, beginning his television career at CBWT-TV in Winnipeg before moving through Ottawa and Toronto. From 1970 to 1976, he anchored CBC's flagship newscast, The National. When union rules prevented him from writing his own scripts, selecting stories, or reporting in the field — roles he considered inseparable from the job of journalism — he made the courageous decision to leave. He joined CTV Television Network in 1976 and never looked back. Over the next 35 years at CTV, Lloyd became something rare: a presence so steady, so trusted, that Canadians turned to him instinctively in moments of crisis and celebration alike. He anchored coverage of the 1969 moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the September 11 attacks, two Quebec referendums, fourteen federal elections, and nine Olympic Games. TV Guide readers voted him Canada's most trusted news anchor for eleven consecutive years. He was, as many called him, Canada's Walter Cronkite. His signature sign-off — "And that's the kind of day it's been" — became one of the most recognizable phrases in Canadian broadcasting. He retired from the anchor desk on September 1, 2011, after 41 years as a national news anchor, the longest such tenure in North American history. He was the first journalist inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1998, and published his bestselling memoir, The Kind of Life It's Been, in 2012. Beyond the camera, Lloyd was "Dad-Dad" to his grandchildren, devoted husband to his high school sweetheart Nancy Barrett for 70 years, and a committed advocate for disadvantaged youth through the Lloyd and Nancy Robertson Youth Initiative Fund. He died peacefully at his home in Markham, Ontario, on September 4, 2026, at the age of 92, surrounded by family. Canada had not just lost a broadcaster — it had lost a trusted friend.