Peter Legge, the founder of Canada Wide Media—the parent company of BCBusiness, Vancouver magazine and Western Living—has passed away. He was 84.
Legge got started in publishing in the 1970s when he took over Al Davidson’s struggling This Week magazine, later retooling it into TV Week. He purchased the storied BCBusiness magazine from billionaire businessman Jimmy Pattison in 1991, then in June 2018 Canada Wide Media acquired Vancouver magazine and design publication Western Living from Yellow Pages.
Legge and his family ran Canada Wide Media for more than 40 years, growing it into Western Canada’s largest privately-owned magazine publishing company, at its heyday having 55 magazines and online publications. He sold all of its titles to Alive Publishing Group, in 2023, when he made the decision to retire.
Current CEO and Group Publisher of Alive Publishing & Canada Wide Media, Ryan Benn, describes Legge as someone who cared deeply about building community and the communities his publications served.
“We had a common purpose of creating inspiring and trusted content to our audiences,” says Benn. “We are proud to honour Peter’s legacy of what he created as we continue to build and grow as a powerhouse publisher in the media landscape,” Benn said.
Beyond publishing, Legge was an enthusiastic and internationally acclaimed professional speaker, and bestselling author on effective leadership – authoring 24 Canadian bestsellers. He received the Golden Gavel award and was named Top Speaker in North America by Toastmasters International. He was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame by both the National Speakers Association in the United States and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, and was a member of the Speakers Roundtable, an invitation-only society of 20 of North America’s top professional speakers.
Always caring about the community and people around him, Legge’s generosity and commitment to community service were honoured with the Nido Qubein Philanthropist of the Year Award, the Order of the Red Cross, the Variety Club of B.C. Gold Heart Award, the Silver Jubilee Medal from the Royal Life Saving Society, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
In 1997, he was inducted into the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and in 2008 he received the Order of British Columbia, the province’s highest honour, for his lifelong dedication to serving others. He also held an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University and was a fellow of the Canadian Guild of Authors and a member of the Fellows Council at Royal Roads University.
For more than three decades he served as co-host of the Variety Club Telethon – Children’s Charity, helping raise more than $150 million.
Legge passed away earlier this week, with his family by his side. He is survived by his wife Kay and three daughters.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations in Peter’s memory to the Alzheimer Society of BC and Yukon or Crossroads Hospice Society in Port Moody—”two organizations that have been especially meaningful to our family,” says his daughter Sam.
