When a young British newspaperman named Michael Cooke first visited Toronto in 1974, he decided to visit the Toronto Star newsroom.
It would prove to be a whim with far reaching consequences. An on-duty Star editor offered the Fleet Street reporter a copy editing shift that evening.
Within days, Cooke had a job at the Star and a new home in Canada. Thirty-five years later, after leading newsrooms across Canada and the U.S., Cooke is returning to the Star as editor.
“This is a magnificent closing of the circle,” said Cooke, currently editor-in-chief of the Chicago Sun-Times. “It gives me goose bumps. … You’re working with people who would attack a tank with a knife for the Toronto Star … That paper is adored and loved by the people who work for it and to be able to go there and be in the most competitive newspaper city in North America is just a great place to be.”
