David Cayley RIP

I learned last week from the newsletter The Convivial Society, run by LM Sacasas, that David Cayley had died on June 10th.

In the words of LM Sacasas:

Cayley was an accomplished journalist and documentarian. For over thirty years, he found a home at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), where he produced CBC Radio’s Ideas series. During this run, his programs explored the work of Charles Taylor, Simone Weil, Richard Sennet, George Grant, and René Girard among many others. Happily, Cayley created a personal website, where he made an archive of these shows available. There is an education to be had in this archive for those with the time to listen.

But it is likely that Cayley will be chiefly remembered as the great advocate and interpreter of the work of his friend, Ivan Illich. Those of you who have been reading the Convivial Society for some time will know that the name of this newsletter is taken from Illich’s work and that my own thinking and writing has been indelibly shaped by my reading of Illich. So, like many others who have sought to learn from Illich, I am, and will remain, in Cayley’s debt.

I heartily agree. Cayley’s interview with Ivan Illich (later turned into a book) proved well worth seeking out.

So too, does the newsletter from LM Sacasas: The Convivial Society!