Gazette's easygoing photo editor gained fame for Lennon bed-inGeorge Cree, the creative, easy-going photo editor of The Gazette in the 1980s, began his career taking baby pictures. He eventually gained an international reputation in 1969 with his images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in for peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Cree was 85 when he died in his sleep Wednesday at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, B.C., where he was being treated for a severe diabetic condition. "George was one of those great guys who could make you feel better just by walking into a room," said Doug Ball, the retired award-winning Canadian Press photographer who once worked as Cree's assistant at The Gazette. "He would never put you down or do anything to stress you out, or do anything that might make you worry about missing the shot. George was one of those guys for whom the glass was always half full, never half empty." George Harold (Geordie) Cree, a shopkeeper's son, was born in Bangor, Ireland, on April 8, 1922. He came to Canada with his parents and an older brother when he was 7. He grew up in Rosemont, and dropped out of high school during the Depression to work as an office boy for the Bank of Montreal. While still in his teens, he played semi-professional hockey and served with the Royal Grenadier Guards; he was part of the king's colour party in Montreal during the 1939 royal visit. During the Second World War, Cree was a tail-gunner with the Royal Canadian Air Force stationed in Newfoundland. When the war ended, Cree started taking pictures for the Longue Pointe Army Depot and studied photography by correspondence with the New York Institute of Photography. He worked as a studio photographer and as a photo journalist until 1959, when he landed a job with Canadian Marconi as a television news cameraman for CFCF, which went on the air in 1961. Cree joined The Gazette in 1966 and was loaned to the Expo 67 Corporation as photo co-ordinator for the World Fair. "Like the fair itself, he was an institution more than just a talented photographer," said Gordon Beck, who first worked with Cree as an Expo staff photographer and then at The Gazette. "He was a diplomat who relied on infectious Irish charm to temper the exuberance of his rowdy young team during those very heady days." Cree told a memorable anecdote about the queen's visit to Expo when he was aboard the royal yacht Britannia and tried to get the queen to use his camera to take a group photograph. "At one point, six photographers were sitting on a stairway as the queen's guests lined up in front of us to have their pictures taken with her," Cree recalled. "We sat on these stairs and they stood in the doorway. The queen noted what a good photo the six of us on the stairs would make - a cute photo. I offered Her Majesty my camera, but she wouldn't take the picture." Cree was never afraid to put himself in harm's way to take a picture and won several awards for his photography, including top honours in the 1968 Montreal Firefighters' Association contest. He covered the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series for The Gazette and worked as photo co-ordinator for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. He was appointed Gazette photo editor in 1980 and retired to the west coast in 1989. "He was the most forgiving photo boss you ever met," said veteran Gazette photographer David Sidaway. "If you screwed up or did something wrong, he wouldn't put you in the dog house. He never did anything to demoralize the photographers who worked for him." He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Violet Smith, and by his son and daughter. According to his wish, there will be no funeral or memorial service. |