Fonds 2024 - David Lewis Stein fonds

David Lewis Stein (1937-2019) was a journalist, novelist, adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and a Toronto political activist. Stein’s journalism and other writings often centred around civic politics and life in Toronto, which positioned him at the forefront of local political movements throughout his career. He was a founding member of The Writers Union of Canada.

Stein graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and English in 1960, after which he began a long career in journalism. He wrote for Macleans Magazine in the early 1960s before moving to Paris to write for The International Herald Tribune from 1965-1967. In 1969, he moved back to Toronto and began working for The Toronto Star, where he would write as a municipal affairs columnist for over 30 years. He also returned to U of T to begin a Master of Science, Urban and Regional Planning, which he completed in 1974. During his Master’s degree, he became a Fellow and part-time lecturer at Innis College, where he would return to teach as an adjunct professor after his retirement from The Toronto Star in 2001.

Through his work and personal life, Stein became a central figure in Toronto’s municipal politics, reporting on issues such as the development of the Spadina Expressway and the Eaton Centre. He had served as a board member for the Housing Design Council of Canada, the Annex Ratepayers, the Jewish Community Centre, the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild, and was an active member of the Shaarei Tzedek Synagogue.

Outside of journalism, he authored both fiction and non-fiction, including four novels, numerous short stories, three non-fiction books, and a play.

How creators of archival records identify themselves and are identified by others is a key contextual aspect of understanding their perspectives and approach. David Lewis Stein identified as a Caucasian, heterosexual man of Jewish ethnicity. This information has been sourced from Stein’s family.