Robert Fulford

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Alternate use: see Robert Fulford (croquet player) for the English croquet player.

Robert Fulford, O.C., (born February 13, 1932) is a Canadian journalist and essayist. He was born in Ottawa and lives in Toronto.

Fulford began his career in journalism in the summer of 1950 when he left high school and went to work for The Globe and Mail as a sports reporter. Subsequently, Fulford rose to various editorial positions at the newspaper before working as a columnist for The Toronto Star (1959-1962, 1964-1968 and 1971-1987). From 1968 until 1987, Fulford was the editor of Saturday Night magazine. He then went on to work as a columnist for the Financial Times of Canada (1988-1992), The Globe and Mail (1992-1999) and the National Post (1999-). Fulford worked as the co-host of the Realities TV show on TVOntario (1982-1989) and for the CBC radio show Morningside (1989-1993). In 1999, Fulford delivered the Massey Lecture, Canada's venerated annual series of public lectures. In 1984, Fulford was awarded the rank of Officer of the Order of Canada.

In his 1988 entry for The Canadian Encyclopedia, Douglas Fetherling describes Fulford's politics as being on "the more conservative end of the liberal spectrum," but in recent years he has drifted more to the right. He strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and is a fervent supporter of the State of Israel. He can be critical of the Liberal Party of Canada's platforms, but can often adopt non-partisaned stances. Fulford is a well-respected art critic and has written extensively about the Canadian abstract art group Painters Eleven, its members (particularly William Ronald, Tom Hodgson, and Harold Town), and the Saskatchewan abstract artist Mashel Teitelbaum. Generally speaking, Fulford's opinions command wide attention from the Canadian press and public; although he is not without controversy: his high profile attack on Canadian auteur David Cronenberg's film Shivers is a seminal moment in Canadian film history.^[1]