ANALYSIS: How to remember Giorgio Mammoliti?

Because I’ve been covering politics in Ontario for more than four decades and have met hundreds of politicians in my time, I tend to be the go-to guy around here when it comes to writing obituaries.

Normally, I write about people who have made some significant contribution to public life and deserve to be remembered.

But how does one handle writing an obituary about someone who had a significant profile, but perhaps not for the right reason? And are we allowed to be honest about the kind of political career the dear, departed politician led, particularly if the cause of his death was tragic and premature?

These questions have preoccupied me ever since I got a phone call from a trusted source, telling me that former MPP and Toronto city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti had died in a terrible accident. Mammoliti was only 64 years old.

I first met Mammoliti three-and-a-half decades ago, when he was known as “George,” the name he was born with, not “Giorgio,” the name he took later in his political career. He was elected to Queen’s Park as a 28-year-old New Democrat MPP in 1990, the year that party formed a surprise majority government with Bob Rae as premier. But Mammoliti, a social conservative, had an uncomfortable relationship with the NDP. He was one of a dozen NDP members who voted against his government’s own attempt to expand rights for same sex couples, ensuring the bill failed to pass.

Like many in that government, Mammoliti was defeated after only one […] This is an excerpt. Read the full article on the TVO website.