Revelstoke Current editor David Rooney passes away

David Rooney, best known lately as the editor of the Revelstoke Current, passed away at his home on Friday, July 21.

News of his passing came in a post on the Current by his friend Laura Stovel.

Rooney started his career in journalism in the mid 1970s and worked at various media outlets including the Canadian Press, the Calgary Herald, and the Banff Crag & Canyon. He moved to Revelstoke in 2002 where he worked as editor of what was then called the Revelstoke Times Review, now the Revelstoke Review.

In 2008, Rooney left to take on a job as constituency assistant with then Kootenay-Columbia Conservative MP Jim Abbott. After leaving that post, Rooney started the online publication the Revelstoke Current, which he operated until his passing yesterday. He also taught at Mount Royal College and published a textbook on reporting in 2000.

Under Rooney, the Revelstoke Current was known for its local news reporting, focusing on all issues big and small that affected Revelstoke residents.

David was an active painter known for his volunteer work in the artistic community. He contributed his volunteer time to many local artistic initiatives and also displayed his paintings at many shows at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. He was also involved in several community initiatives over the years, including an active role in Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society and the Revelstoke for Refugees initiative.

Rooney had been suffering from health problems for the past few years, and spent weeks recovering from a heart procedure at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver several years ago. He’s been in an out of hospital since then. In the past year, the effects of his ongoing health problems were very visible. He used a cane and, at times, struggled to walk more than short distances.

On a personal note, I’m saddened and will miss him. I knew David before I moved to Revelstoke in 2008. Since then, we’d see each other on about a weekly basis while doing media-related work. We’ve sat together through many, many hundreds of hours of meetings, events and gatherings.

It was always interesting to speak with David and get his views on things. His life experiences, including living in South America with his family while he was young, brought him different and unique perspectives on matters, and it was always interesting to get his take.

When he got into reporting on an issue, he was passionate, and sometimes mercurial. If you spoke with him about the issues that got him fired up, I found his perspective was often motivated by principles and a belief that things could be improved and done in a way that better served the residents of Revelstoke.

In the early years, before health struggles slowed his production, David’s output at the Current was prodigious; I estimate he easily racked up many 60-plus hours a week serving the community for very, very little financial reward. While the work can be enjoyable at times, it’s also often emotionally tough, steeped in controversy and oftentimes thankless.

If David touched your life, even just as a consumer of the Current or his work at the Times Review, I ask you to take a moment to thank David in your way for his service to Revelstoke.

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