Eddie Goldenberg, who worked as chief of staff for former prime minister Jean Chrétien, has passed away at the age of 77.
A statement from Global Public Affairs CEO Randy Pettipas, where Goldenberg was employed, said he died “after a hard-fought battle with cancer.”
Originally from Montreal, Goldenberg was a lawyer and spent ten years as a senior policy adviser for Chrétien before being appointed his chief of staff.
He contributed to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was honored with membership in the Order of Canada in 2014 for his extensive public service.
Goldenberg was regarded as an elder statesman within the Liberal Party.
Pettipas noted that Goldenberg continued to engage in client work, including efforts with former governor general David Johnston to attract researchers to Canada, right up until the last few months of his life.
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‘Deeply passionate about Canada’
Bruce Heyman, a former U. S. ambassador to Canada, shared that Goldenberg had a special talent for connecting civil service and business worlds. “He has been, throughout these years, deeply passionate about Canada as a country. The Canadian government and direction … he wasn’t shy about speaking up and speaking out,” Heyman said. “There are very few leaders that are out there over time that have been able to bring together public service, business and philanthropy in society in this way, and he embodied much of that.” Heyman mentioned he wouldn’t be CEO of Power Sustainable-a company founded by Chrétien’s grandson Olivier Desmarais-without a recommendation from Goldenberg. He also learned many lessons about navigating public policy and business from Goldenberg; the most valuable being to listen carefully and ask plenty of questions. “He would carefully think through how to navigate more complex issues that some people may be quick to judge,” he said. “He’d take some time and think through issues and then come up with recommendations and be open to dialogue and debate around them.”Source link
