Val Sears was born in 1927 and died on January 21, 2016, in Almonte, Ontario.

He was an eminent Canadian journalist.

He was widely recognized of one of the most important political journalists of his day, he had long experience as a reporter, editor, Ottawa Bureau Chief and foreign correspondent in London, England, and Washington, D.C. for the Toronto Star.

Val Sears won numerous awards for his reporting including a National Newspaper Award for feature writing and for news as well as a science writing Award.

Val Sears was the author of the book Hello Sweetheart: Get Me Rewrite, which is a lively account of the 1950s newspaper wars between the Toronto Telegram and the Toronto Star, both of which employed him.

His book became a cult classic among journalists and appears on the curriculum of journalism schools in Canada.

Following his retiring from the Toronto Star, Mr.Sears became a columnist for the Ottawa Sun from 1998 to 2005.

Val always had a great interest in the career of the Prairie populist conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

Mr.Sears was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to write a trilogy of television plays detailing the life of John Diefenbaker, which was ultimately not created due to budget cuts at the CBC.

Mr. Val Sears accepted the Bell Chair as Visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Regina, in 1991.

In 1999, Val was made a lifetime member of the Ottawa Press Gallery, until his death on January 22nd, 2015.

Sears is the father of Robin Sears, was a very popular Canadian communications, marketing, and public affairs advisor, and of Kit Melamed, a producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation investigative journalism program, the Fifth Estate.

Val Sears was married to Edith Cody-Rice, Senior Legal Counsel for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Val Sears passed away at 88 yrs old.