Percy Saltzman

Percy Philip Saltzman, (March 15, 1915 – January 15, 2007) was a meteorologist and television personality best remembered for being the first weatherman in English-speaking Canadian television history.

As a pioneer in weather forecasting, he was the first Canadian to present the weather in satellite and radar images and to give road reports and forest fires. He also hosted numerous public affairs programs on CBC and, in 1969, along with Lloyd Robertson, he hosted ten days of coverage of the first Moon landing for CBC Television. where he studied at King George Secondary School and the University of British Columbia.

In the 1930s he was a political activist and once shared a stage with Stafford Cripps at a Vancouver socialist rally. Saltzman maintained his left-wing convictions into later life. His son, Paul, said of him "(h)e came out of the Depression in Western Canada and that kind of skewed his values. He was an armchair socialist, but that didn't translate into action." ). Initially, he gave the weather on a puppet show, Uncle Chichimus and Hollyhock, but he soon delivered forecasts on Stop Watch and Listen and then became co-host of Tabloid, the CBC's daily current affairs and interview show

His presentations, before the introduction of such amenities as computer-enhanced satellite displays and graphics, involved a blackboard and chalk as he drew maps, suns, clouds, snowflakes, fronts, etc., ending with his signature toss of the chalk, and his "and that's the weather picture" as he caught it. (He is said to have always caught it, although he admitted having dropped it once, but only once.) Saltzman once estimated he had done 9,000 weather forecasts on radio and television and interviewed more than 1,000 people.

He also broadcast local radio weather reports in Toronto at CBC Radio, CKEY, and CFRB.

Later life In 1990 he married his second wife, Grace Audrey Ford (née Modeland) (1930-2018). He has two sons from his first marriage, Earl (born 1942) and Paul (born 1943). Saltzman was the nephew of Communist Party of Canada organizer Sam Carr.

Saltzman died on January 15, 2007, in Toronto. He is buried at York Cemetery in Toronto.

Awards/Recognitions President, ACTRA-Toronto, 1960 TV Guide Award, 1960 Queen's Jubilee Medal, 2002 TV Career Cited in Environment Canada's Top 20th Century Weather Events, 2002 Order of Canada, 2002 Canadian "Who's Who" 2003 Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, 2004