For Canadian author and conservationist Graeme Gibson, the responsibilities of being a writer and citizen were much the same.

GibsonB次元官网网址檚 commitment to Canadian literature permeated nearly every aspect of his life B次元官网网址� from his role in organizing the countryB次元官网网址檚 writers, to his five-decades-long relationship with author Margaret Atwood.

In the wake of the 85-year-oldB次元官网网址檚 death, Gibson is being remembered for putting his words into action for both cultural and environmental causes.

B次元官网网址淗e was a great moving force in the writing community,B次元官网网址� said former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, a friend of Gibson and Atwood.

B次元官网网址淭hey were a very wonderful couple because their interests coincided, they both loved nature. They both felt very much that Canada was a country that was unique and had a special feeling about it.B次元官网网址�

Gibson died Wednesday at a hospital in London, U.K., said publisher Penguin Random House Canada

In a statement, his spouse Atwood said Gibson was suffering from dementia and feared further decline, and his family was grateful he had the B次元官网网址渟wift exitB次元官网网址� he wanted.

B次元官网网址淗e had a lovely last few weeks, and he went out on a high, surrounded by love, friendship and appreciation,B次元官网网址� said Atwood. B次元官网网址淲e are grateful for his wise, ethical, and committed life.B次元官网网址�

Clarkson said Gibson suffered a severe stroke last Friday, so his children flew out to be at his bedside. B次元官网网址漈hey were all around him when he died, so that was wonderful and a blessing to us all.B次元官网网址�

Gibson was in England accompanying Atwood to promote the release of B次元官网网址淭he Testaments,B次元官网网址� her sequel to B次元官网网址淭he HandmaidB次元官网网址檚 Tale.B次元官网网址� Several events on the book tour have been postponed, including appearances in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檇 had a wonderful week because she presented her B次元官网网址楾estaments,B次元官网网址� as you know, in (LondonB次元官网网址檚 National Theatre) to the world,B次元官网网址� said Clarkson. B次元官网网址淗e had to leave, but he was 85 B次元官网网址� and he had lived a wonderful life.B次元官网网址�

Born in London, Ont., on Aug. 9, 1934, Gibson studied at the University of Western Ontario and later taught English at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Even early in his career, Gibson displayed an activist streak. In the early 1970s, he scaled a statue of Egerton Ryerson on the schoolB次元官网网址檚 campus, wrapping it in an American flag to protest the sale of Ryerson Press to a U.S. company.

Meanwhile, Gibson was making his mark with his modernist writing in his first two novels, 1969B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淔ive LegsB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淐ommunionB次元官网网址� two years later.

His style evolved in 1982B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淧erpetual Motion,B次元官网网址� which explores the human desire to dominate the natural world. Eleven years later, he published B次元官网网址淕entleman Death,B次元官网网址� centring on a writer confronting his own creativity and mortality.

In 1973, Gibson released a book of interviews, B次元官网网址滶leven Canadian Novelists,B次元官网网址� featuring such literary greats as Atwood, Margaret Laurence, Timothy Findley, Alice Munro and Mordecai Richler.

His passion for writing was evident not only on the page, but in his advocacy for writersB次元官网网址� freedom of expression, said PEN Canada president Richard Stursberg.

In addition to PEN Canada, Gibson co-founded several organizations to support Canadian writers, including WritersB次元官网网址� Trust of Canada and the WritersB次元官网网址� Union of Canada, which he chaired from 1974 to 1975.

B次元官网网址淗e was, without doubt, one of the most important and seminal figures in the emergence of English Canadian literature,B次元官网网址� Stursberg said of Gibson, who occupied his role at PEN Canada from 1987 to 1989.

An avid birdwatcher and environmentalist, Gibson was a council member of World Wildlife Fund Canada and chairman of the Pelee Island Bird Observatory.

His two final works, 2005B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址漈he Bedside Book of BirdsB次元官网网址� and the 2009 followup B次元官网网址漈he Bedside Book of Beasts,B次元官网网址� explore the relationship between humans and animals through stories, poems and illustrations.

Atwood was GibsonB次元官网网址檚 partner in many of these literary, nature-loving and activist pursuits.

Peter Raymont, who is co-directing a documentary about the couple, said Gibson and Atwood first met at a literary awards party at GrossmanB次元官网网址檚 Tavern in Toronto.

According to Raymont, both writers thought the other should have won. And from there, a roughly 50-year relationship blossomed.

For the past several decades, the two shared a home in Toronto. They also spent several years on a farm in rural Ontario.

Even after Gibson was diagnosed with dementia, he travelled the world with Atwood, making her laugh even in his last months, said Raymont.

Gibson always brought out the B次元官网网址渇un-loving sideB次元官网网址� of Atwood, Raymont said, and he sometimes caught the two of them B次元官网网址済iggling together like teenagers.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淲e were really honoured to witness the love between them both,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 as if they were still at that pub at GrossmanB次元官网网址檚. You really, really felt that.B次元官网网址�

Gibson is survived by Atwood and their daughter, Jess. Gibson also had two sons with Shirley Gibson, with whom he divorced in the early 1970s.

B次元官网网址� with files from Victoria Ahearn and Cassandra Szklarski and Associated Press

Adina Bresge, The Canadian Press

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