Playwright and screenwriter, died of renal failure at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, early Tuesday June 8, 2010.  He was 66.  Michael was predeceased by his wife, Jeani Read, the Province columnist, in 2007.  He is survived by his brother Peter Mercer of Newmarket, Ontario.

Michael was born August 7, 1943 in Liverpool, England.  His mother Audrey was a British war bridge; his father George Mercer was a RCAF fighter pilot who distinguished himself during his service in the Malta campaign during WW2.  After the war the family moved to Toronto.

After graduating from Sir George William’s University and UBC, Michael began his writing career as a radio drama playwright and a television documentary writer for CBC and TVO.  He was an early recruit, writing for the groundbreaking CBC drama series, For the Record, in 1976.

He moved to Vancouver in the early 70s where he became a prolific screenwriter contributing to numerous television drama series which included Airwolf, The Beachcombers, Danger Bay, Lonesome Dove and Wind At My Back.

In 1985 his play, Goodnight Disgrace, which recalled the stormy relationship between the novelist Conrad Aiken and his acolyte Malcolm Lowry, was produced to great reviews.  The play was awarded the Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1986.

In the early 90s, Michael began to suffer from kidney failure that contributed to a number of additional health problems.

He is mourned and remembered by his many friends and colleagues in the writing community across the country.

Michael’s estate is going to Langara College of Vancouver to establish a fund to be known as “Jeani Read and Michael Mercer Fund for Progressive Journalism.”  This fund will be used for scholarships, honoraria scholarship mentors, and possibly to fund the production of a Journalism magazine.



MICHAEL

A friend has died but not from the same branch that holds me.
Aged sixty-six, he had been “ailing” for some two decades.
Lacking a kidney, he spent too long in dialysis tyranny,
Too much bruised time and debilitating pain for anyone to bleed.
My writer pal was one whose creative words belonged to lips.
A playwright through and through, his prose activity meant no eclipse.
Using an unborn novel (Whitechapel) as womb,
His play, GOODNIGHT DISGRACE, his greatest bloom.
The secular saga of withheld kidneys, of devoted wives,
Eyes favoring shadows, humour always wry,
Lover of domestic myth, boon companion to both straight and gay friends,
Faithful to Airforce father, - family for “Mischa” had no end!
In searching words to give this playwright/TV artist his final sad salute,
I would take that sterile time of sickness and pack it in a goddamn parachute!

David Watmough, Crofton Manor, June 9, 2010 4th Collection


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