Local historian and CBC contributor Harry Sanders dead at 59

Harry Sanders, the Calgary historian and longtime CBC Radio contributor who brought the city's architectural and cultural past to life for audiences, died Sunday at 59.

Sanders was born in Drumheller in 1966 and grew up in Calgary after his parents' early years running a historic motel in Drumheller. He received a bachelor of arts in history in 1988 and went on to establish himself as one of Calgary's most recognized voices on heritage and local history. From 2006 to 2009, he served as a columnist for CBC Radio's The Homestretch, where he was known as "Harry the Historian."

Sanders' first CBC story emerged from an unexpected place: an auction of gargoyles from the old Calgary Herald building downtown. When the Herald's building was redeveloped, its new structure had no room for the ornamental stone figures, so they were auctioned off as a benefit to charity. Sanders' reporting on that moment launched a career documenting Calgary's disappearing and evolving cityscape. "Harry knew more about gargoyles than anybody we've been able to find," said Jeff Collins, former host of The Homestretch, in an interview Radio's Calgary Eyeopener.

Over his career, Sanders published books about Alberta's history and received multiple recognitions for his work: the Calgary Heritage Authority named him Historian Laureate in 2012, he received the Calgary Award for Heritage in 2015, and in 2022 he was awarded Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal. Friends described Sanders' gift as his ability to see the people and lives behind the buildings and artifacts he studied. "That was Harry's gift: he always saw the people behind the buildings and the artifacts we talked about," Collins said. "His loss leaves an enormous, Harry-shaped crater in Calgary."

Bob Van Wegen, a longtime colleague, said Sanders' passion for heritage work came from his early connection to the Drumheller hotel his parents ran. "I think his love of history started with the love of that hotel and that place," Van Wegen said Radio's Calgary Eyeopener. "He loved the work. He got a thrill out of discovering new things that he could share with the people of Calgary."