A retired teacher from Port Coquitlam high school, who was inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame two weeks ago, died last Friday.
Ed Harrington, a recipient of the key to the city of Port Coquitlam for his work in education, passed away on April 26. The New Westminster resident was 80.
Harrington was a teacher at PoCo high - now called Terry Fox secondary - from 1963 to 1989 where he, his long-time companion, Dolores Kirkwood, and James Bryson created musicals. His name is on the school's wall of fame.
In a statement issued yesterday, PoCo Mayor Greg Moore said Harrington taught with his father, Bruce, at PoCo high for many years and was a family friend.
"Ed's passion for the performing arts was inspirational," Moore wrote. "He built a strong, community-focused drama program.
"I remember that when the school play was on, the whole school was participating - not always on stage or in the band, but the sports teams would help with ushering, setting up, and other teachers in the school volunteered. It would bring our school and community together."
Besides a teacher, Harrington was also a film, stage and T.V. actor as well as a director, and he co-founded the Royal City Musical Theatre (RCMT), of which he was its artistic director for 17 years.
In 2005, when he announced he would be leaving the company, he told Tri-City News reporter Diane Strandberg: "It has been a wonderful run and it has been a joy and a privilege to work with such a calibre of both amateur and professional actors, singers, dancers and technical and design people."
Chad Matchette, who owns Coquitlam's Lindbjerg Academy of the Performing Arts and is RCMT's producer, said Harrington gave him his start 21 years ago - ironically in Oklahoma!, the musical that RCMT just closed out for the season (Harrington was inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame at the April 19 performance).
"He was very passionate about what he did," Matchette remembered of his mentor. "He understood the need to do things on a big scale."
Harrington was also involved in the Vagabond Theatre, Metro Theatre, Vancouver Little Theatre, North Vancouver Theatre, Fraser Valley Musical Theatre, Vancouver International Festival, and was an adviser to the theatre department at Douglas College.
Among his accolades, he was the first recipient of the Bernie Legge Cultural Award and won the Sam Payne lifetime achievement award from Actor's Equity and an Ovation Award from Applause Musical.
A farewell will be held for Harrington at RCMT's home, Massey Theatre (735 Eighth Ave., New Westminster), on Saturday, May 11 at 1 p.m.
