DARTMOUTH – Charlie Keating, a giant in the Canadian cable television industry – in all senses of the word – died of cancer Tuesday morning. He was 72.
Now, the term “larger than life” may seem a cliché to some, but there wasn’t one person contacted by www.cartt.ca on the passing of the founder of Dartmouth Cable TV (which later became Nova Scotia’s Access Communications) who didn’t use the term.
“He was a great industry individual and a great man in his own right,” said John Thomas, president of Delta Cable. “He was a remarkable man and a wonderful mentor for many of us in the cable industry for a number of years. He was one of those guys who always embraced anybody he had an opportunity to meet – and he’d always say ‘Hello Brother!’ with that great, big lumbering voice of his.” 
People remember well the big man with the big voice (How tall was he? Not sure, but guesses have ranged from 6’4” to 6’9”). People in the industry have said that the thing they miss most about cable gatherings since Keating (right) sold Access in 1999 were his stirring a capella renditions of “Danny Boy”.
“He did it with aplomb – he was no shrinking violet,” said TVC Canada president Steve Quinn, who has known Keating for years. “He was a letter-writer, too. I was going through a file a month ago and I saw a couple of letters and pointed out to one of my kids a letter of congratulations when I got a change of position at White Radio and then when I took over Comsource – a real nice long note from (Keating).”
“His rendition of ‘Danny Boy’ was almost like his calling card,” recalled Dean MacDonald, president and CEO of Persona Communications (Keating sat on the Cable Atlantic board when MacDonald was president there). “He had a booming voice and a booming personality.”
That personality was molded through a boyhood spent in relative poverty, said his close friend, Shaw Communications founder and executive chairman JR Shaw. “He was raised a very poor boy in Dartmouth, next to a pig farm. They didn’t have a car… and he told me the other day that lots of times they only had boiled potatoes and turnips in the house.
“He’s got that humble background and that’s really driven him to where he was today,” added Shaw. “I’ve got a lot of friends in the industry but I’ve known him for 35 years and he’s probably one of the best friends that I’ve had over those years… he’s got the biggest heart of any man I know.”
Keating spent many years on the Shaw Communications board of directors. “He was the dean of the board,” said Shaw, who will give a eulogy during the funeral. Arrangements have yet to be announced.
Keating got his start in cable in 1968 when he was the only one of seven applicants for a cable license that contemplated just Dartmouth while the others wanted a license for what were two municipalities at the time. Dartmouth Cable TV launched in 1972.
“He was a wonderful man. Everyone describes him as larger than life,” said Duncan. “He’s a true entrepreneur and obviously a pioneer in the cable industry. He loved the cable television industry and he loved people. He was very giving, not only of his money, but his time.
“He was a great mentor, I learned a lot,” she added.
He was passionate, too, in everything he did. “He went to great lengths to try to keep the CRTC honest… and when he stood up to ask a question, people kind of shook in their boots a bit because in that booming voice, he could kind of intimidate people,” said the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association’s Harris Boyd.
Thanks to his background, Keating was a fighter, one which – when he backed a cause – backed it to the nth degree. “He was a tremendous advocate,” said Rogers Communications’ vice-chairman Phil Lind. “He saw things in their simplest form. Charlie would not get too complicated. It was either this way or it was that way.
“He was a great fighter. He was tireless.”
“He was a doer, a great industry person, a great supporter and wanted to move the industry ahead,” added Shaw.
But beyond the cable industry, Keating definitely spread his good fortune around. “He was a true entrepreneur,” said Duncan. Keating was into real estate, shopping malls, security and was even a Star Choice broker after he left cable.
But, he’s been out of cable so long and amassed such a fortune that many down east think of him mainly as a philanthropist. St Francis Xavier University was near and dear to his heart. He attended, as well as his four children and in 2000, the sports buff Keating donated $5 million towards the construction of the Charles V. Keating Millennium Centre, a brand new campus athletic and conference (pictured).
"Everyone at StFX is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one the greatest supporters StFX has ever known," said Dr. Sean
Riley, president of StFX in a statement released Tuesday. "As a student, an active alumnus, a member of the Board of Governors and as the driving force behind the Charles V. Keating Millennium Centre, he made a mark upon StFX that will never be forgotten."
Keating graduated from StFX in 1958 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 2000. "StFX gave me a chance, and my family is now the Xaverian family," he once said, in the StFX release. Keating’s four children – Anne Marie, Gregg, Catherine and Susan – all attended StFX.
"We are honoured to consider Dr. Charles Keating our friend," said Dr. Riley.
Keating donated to hospitals (he was Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre Foundation in Halifax), sports teams and many other causes, some of it publicly, much of it privately. “The amount of money that Charles put into the community for hockey teams and softball teams and all those types of things… when it came to that, Charlie didn’t know how to say no,” said MacDonald.
While Keating had suffered from heart issues in years past he was diagnosed just this September with an aggressive cancer which had already spread rapidly.
He died peacefully surrounded by his family, said Shaw.
UPDATE: The family will hold visitation at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church on Windmill Road in Dartmouth from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. today (Wednesday) and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday. A reflection on the life of Mr. Keating will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Saint Mary’s Basilica on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, with a 4 p.m. funeral mass to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital Foundation.
Photos courtesy StFX University.
