Jack Sigvaldason, publisher of 6 Northern newspapers, dies at 84

Jack "Sig" Sigvaldason, founder and longtime publisher of Northern News Service Limited, has died following a "brief illness," according to an obituary on the company's website.

NNSL includes six northern newspapers: The Yellowknifer, Kivalliq News, the Inuvik Drum, the Hay River Hub, Nunavut News, andNews/Northin the Northwest Territories.

"It's a huge loss, as a friend and an inspiration," said Bruce Valpy, publisher and CEO of NNSL. "It's a little daunting to have to move ahead with the papers ... without him."

Valpy said Sigvaldason's passing was "quite sudden."

"He and I had been working together almost every day," he said.

According to a biography written for Sigvaldason'sAlberta Weekly Newspapers Association Silver Quill award in 2008, he began his career at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1952. Shortly after, he founded his own advertising firm, Sigvaldason & Associates.

But in the late 60s, his sister married a northern bush pilot and Sigvaldason began planning a TV documentary on his brother-in-law's work. His long love affair with the North began shortly thereafter.

In 1969, Sigvaldason took a role as editor of News of the North at a time when, by his own account, only nine communities had telephone service. In an interview with JSource, he said he connected with remote communities by illegal hand radio.

He was fired two years later "for antagonizing the territorial government, the federal government, the municipal government, the Indian Brotherhood, Inuit Tapirisat and the majority of advertisers," according to thebiography written by the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association.

Lifetime achievement award

Sigvaldason then started The Yellowknifer, Yellowknife's community newspaper, with journalist Jack Adderley. In 1972, he established Northern News Services, later purchasing News of the North in 1979 and renaming it News/North.

He served as publisher until June 30, 2017, when he bought out his longtime business partner Mike Scott.

He was a fierce journalist... He loved people stories. He loved community journalism.- Bruce Valpy,publisher and CEO ofNNSL

"[Sigvaldason] was on the street. He was in the grocery stores, the coffee shops, the bars, the courtrooms, the government offices," said Bill Braden, the first journaliston staff at The Yellowknifer. "So he connected so strongly and so passionately with the people in the community."

In 1995, Sigvaldason becamea pioneer in the world of online publishing, helping to buildNNSL's first website himself.

"I remember seeing him banging away at code and trying to learn this stuff," said Valpy. "He was instrumental in getting that [website] up."

In 2012, Sigvaldason received a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation for his work in the North.

Valerie Pringle, a juror for the Canadian Journalism Foundation at the time, said of Sigvaldason "the fact that he created this feisty, profitable mini-newspaper empire in the N.W.T. and Nunavut, serving 60,000 people in two languages is a massive achievement and the centrepiece of a 50 year career."

"[He] would always take ideas a little further than expected. It was a little frightening at times, but that's why it was fun to workwith him," said Valpy. "He was a fierce journalist... He loved people stories. He loved community journalism."

The NNSL offices are closed on Friday out of respect for Sigvaldson's passing.