Patrick O'Flaherty, Newfoundland historian, RIP

Patrick O'Flaherty, the Memorial University English professor and prolific writer and commentator on all things Newfoundland, died August 16. O'Flaherty wrote fiction, cultural and political criticism, and several Newfoundland histories, including Old Newfoundland: a History to 1843 and Lost Country: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland 1843-1933.

O'Flaherty was 77 and died while swimming with family members at a pond near his rural retreat on Bonavista Peninsula, not that far from where he was born at Long Beach. His wife, the writer and broadcaster Marjorie Doyle is currently chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.

The Telegram has an obituary.