[This story has been updated to include remembrances from Dunlop’s friends and colleagues]
TORONTO—John A. Dunlop, who during a long career in publishing worked at Maclean’s, Quest, Saturday Night, Homemakers and Vista, died of cancer last week at his home in Toronto.

John A. Dunlop

Dunlop’s most high-profile adventure in the magazine industry came at Frank Stonach’s Vista, where he was the founding publisher. (The incredible Vista story is recounted in this Ryerson Review of Journalism piece from 1990.)

Greg Keilty, now the publisher of SkyNews, worked under Dunlop as the director of circulation at Vista. He says the Scotsman was one of his favourite publishers. “I particularly liked it when he'd dip into The John Dunlop Book of Scottish Wisdom from which he could produce a saying to help with every situation,” Keilty writes in an e-mail. “My favourites were: ‘That's a long walk for a nickel,’ ‘Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good,’ ‘Don't mistake kindness for weakness’ and ‘You're never as stupid as when you think you know the answer.’ There were plenty more.”

Dunlop’s last job in the magazine industry was at MovieEntertainment, where he worked as director of advertising sales. “John was a very giving person, sharing with his time and his possessions,” writes Nik Reitz, who worked with Dunlop on the ME sales team. “He had an extremely positive view of all things that life offered and never exhibited a negative thought abut any body or any thing, with the exception of some of the leaders we have had in the Liberal Party.”

ME editor-in-chief David Sherman remembers Dunlop “as erudite, knowledgeable, sophisticated, well-read,funny, approachable, smart, at peace with life, or so it seemed to me, and one of the magazine's biggest boosters.”

Dunlop leaves his wife, Geri Cansick, and four children behind. He was 60.