Friends, family and fellow foodies mourn the loss of CBC Radio host Adrienne Pan
CBC
Adrienne Pan, a journalist who had hosted CBC Edmonton's afternoon radio show Radio Active since 2018, died on Saturday morning after battling a serious illness for months. She was 43.
Pan grew up in Edmonton, graduating from Victoria School of the Arts in 1996.
Jules Van Soest became one of Pan's best friends after they met at age 14 in a musical theatre class at the Citadel Theatre. She said Pan was driven and charismatic as a youngster — someone people naturally gravitated toward.
Even in high school, where she anchored TV newscasts, Pan knew she wanted a career that would let her learn something new every day, her husband Ben Norman said.
After earning a bachelor of arts from McGill University in 2000, Pan worked for Edmonton's A-Channel and for Global News in Lethbridge and Winnipeg.
While at Global, in 2007, she won a national award for a television documentary she produced about Harry Lehotsky, an inner-city pastor and community activist who had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.
In 2011, two years after launching CBC Manitoba's late-night newscast, Pan returned to her hometown, hosting CBC Edmonton's late-night TV newscast, then the 6 p.m. TV newscast.
In 2016, she started filling in for Mark Connolly on CBC Edmonton's morning radio show, Edmonton AM. On her second morning hosting the show, news of the Fort McMurray wildfire broke.
"It was a terrifying experience doing hours of unscripted radio, but it was one of the most important moments in journalism I have experienced in my career," Pan said in 2018, looking back on the experience.
In the CBC Edmonton newsroom and radio studio, Pan was known for being a hard worker who prepared for every interview.
"My parents are immigrants and they taught me to have an extremely dedicated work ethic," she told the Winnipeg Free Press in 2007.
"She never shied away from the tough questions, or the tough work, and had high standards for everything she did," said Stephanie Coombs, CBC Edmonton's director of journalism and programming.
Coombs said Pan inspired her colleagues to reach for high standards too.
"We will miss her, both as a colleague and a friend, immensely," she said.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.