XPost: alt.true-crime, alt.toronto, can.politics   
   XPost: sci.environment   
   From: gregpcarr@yahoo.ca   
      
   Lauded conservationist shot dead   
      
   Garage slaying 'robbed Canada of a hugely important figure'   
      
   By JONATHAN JENKINS -- Sun Media   
       TORONTO (Sun Media) - Millionaire philanthropist and avid   
   conservationist Glen Davis, once lauded as one of the best friends the   
   Canadian environmental community has ever had, was shot dead in an   
   Eglinton Ave. E. parking garage, police said yesterday.   
      
   "He wasn't just philanthropic, he really believed in the work of the   
   World Wildlife Fund (WWF)," said friend Sonja Bata, one of the   
   country's most prominent philanthropists herself, who has known Davis   
   for a decade and served with him on the national council of the WWF.   
      
   "He tried to promote the cause wherever he could. He loved to go out   
   to the wilderness and go camping and to really get to know the   
   endangered species of Canada.   
      
   "For him it was almost his life."   
      
   Davis, 66, died from gunshot wounds to the torso in the underground   
   garage of the WWF's Eglinton office sometime around 2 p.m. Friday.   
      
   The mysterious slaying has robbed Canada of a hugely important figure   
   who, despite his enormous contributions, always shunned the limelight,   
   Bata said.   
      
   "He was extremely shy," she said.   
      
   "He hated to stand up in front and say what he had been doing. But we   
   all knew he was just a wonderful, wonderful individual. He's one of   
   those philanthropists who lived for the cause.   
      
   "He had a lot of other causes and unlike other people who love to see   
   their names on the sign of a hospital or university or whatever   
   institution, he was just the contrary. He always wanted to keep a low   
   profile. Very frequently, he gave money anonymously ....   
      
   "He was very involved and he never took credit for what he did."   
      
   Besides the WWF, Davis and his wife Alice gave millions to such   
   charities as The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, The Sierra   
   Club of Canada and he was a passionate supporter of Canada's women's   
   rowing team.   
      
   But it was Canada's wild spaces and species that he was most closely   
   involved with -- especially in the Far North -- and to which he   
   devoted most of his time, money and effort over the past 20 years.   
      
   "If it was wild and untrammelled and untouched by people and he could   
   get out and paddle a river for a few days or weeks on end without   
   seeing anyone, then that's where he was happiest," Josh Laughren,   
   communications director for the WWF, said.   
      
   "He had a deep and personal connection with the wild spaces of   
   Canada."   
      
   And he supported a network of conservationists in every province of   
   the country, Laughren said.   
      
   Others who knew him say he was a gentle and even eccentric soul who   
   was known to read the papers in the stands while taking in the Maple   
   Leafs game.   
      
   "The environmental community in Canada has never had a better friend   
   and supporter than Glen Davis," the Sierra Club of Canada wrote in its   
   2005 annual report.   
      
   "We are extremely grateful for Glen's vision, dedication, and   
   long-standing commitment to protecting Canada's wilderness and   
   wildlife."   
      
   But who killed Davis -- and why -- is not known. Just last year, he   
   was beaten during a robbery by an attacker armed with a baseball bat,   
   although there is nothing to connect that incident with his murder.   
      
   Homicide Det. Wayne Fowler said his body was discovered at 2:14 p.m.   
   in the underground garage near his car. No wallet was found on him but   
   Fowler said it's not clear that he was shot in the course of a   
   robbery.   
      
   No one in the offices, shops and a bar nearby reported hearing any   
   disturbance.   
      
   But security cameras in the garage did capture a man leaving the area   
   around the same time and Fowler said police would like to speak to him   
   or anyone who can identify him.   
      
   The man, who is considered of interest and not a suspect, is white, in   
   his late 20s, about 5-foot-8, and was wearing a black baseball cap, a   
   blue sweater, a waist-length dark jacket with a hood, dark pants and   
   white running shoes. He also had a dark-coloured knapsack on his back.   
   http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2007/05/20/4195284-sun.html   
      
   http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/11910.pdf has the   
   photos of the person of interest.   
   =============================================================================   
      
   Maybe some of his environmentalist friends will support bringing back   
   the death penalty now.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)