Ryan, Claude 1925-2004

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RYAN, Claude 1925-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 26, 1925, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; died of stomach cancer, February 9, 2004, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Politician, publisher, and author. A onetime leader of the Quebec Liberals, Ryan championed the use of French in his native province but was particularly notable for helping to defeat a referendum to create an independent Quebec. Educated at the University of Montreal, where he completed undergraduate studies in 1944, he also studied social work at the School of Social Service in Montreal and spent a year taking Church history courses in Rome. His early career was spent serving as national secretary of the French section of L'Action Catholique Canadienne, and from 1962 to 1963 he worked in Quebec's education ministry. In 1964, Ryan entered publishing as editor and manager of the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir, where he became known for writing intelligent columns. He took over the leadership of the Quebec Liberal party from Robert Bourassa in 1978, and the next year was made a member of the Quebec National Assembly. Successfully preventing Quebec from ceding from the rest of Canada in 1980, his party nevertheless lost the 1981 elections, and Ryan consequently handed the reins of leadership back to Bourassa in 1982. Ryan remained in politics for several more years, becoming Minister of Higher Education in 1985. He entered controversy again in 1988 by opposing a court ruling that commercial signs in Quebec should only be printed in English; on the other hand, he was respected for successfully resolving a conflict between native Mohawks and the Canadian army in 1989. The next year, he was made Minister of Public Security and Minister of Municipal Affairs. Ryan retired in 1994, spending some of his remaining time teaching Catholic studies at McGill University. Among other honors, he was named Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995 for his public service and received the Gold Medal of the Order of Merit of the Federation des Commissions Scolaires du Quebec in 2001. Ryan was the author of several books, including A Stable Society (1978) and Ottawa and the Provinces: Regional Perspectives (1984)