When R. H. “Rusty” Macdonald passed away Christmas Eve at the age of 82, he left many contributions.
A library in Saskatoon is named after him; prairie writers owe some of their earliest success to the Prairie Books he helped create; books of prairie photos he snapped still sit on coffee tables; and farmers fighting branchline abandonment can thank Macdonald for being one of the first journalists to write about it and influence the issue at the House of Commons level.
Macdonald was a Western Producer employee from 1949 to 1977. From feature writer for the magazine section, he became the newspaper’s first magazine editor in 1951. He was promoted to executive editor in 1953 and remained in that job until his retirement in 1977.
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When he retired, Macdonald said he would miss the people the most, staff and readers.
In 1986, when he moved to Victoria from Saskatoon, he told a reporter he would leave Saskatchewan with a great deal of affection and many friends.
Macdonald’s son Alex said his father felt keen responsibility while at the Producer, which he felt was the voice of western Canadian farmers.
He believed the paper had a duty to represent farmers, and that reporters must ask the difficult questions necessary to get at the truth.
Macdonald also felt knowledge was power and wanted to help people in smaller towns and communities. He aided the development of the provincial library system, designing regional libraries and links among libraries.
As the Producer begins celebrating its 75th year, we thank Rusty Macdonald for his dedication to the paper and to farmers. With sorrow we bid him a last farewell, and pass our condolences to his son Alex and daughter Marnie.
