A heavy smoker for more than 50 years, Mr. Gzowski kicked what had been a three-pack-a-day habit early in 2000, then spent much of his time hooked to portable oxygen tank.

Mr. Gzowski's death, at 4 p.m., was "very, very peaceful," according to Shelley Ambrose, his long-time assistant.

"He went to sleep," she said, surrounded by all five of his grown children, his companion of 20 years, Gillian Howard, and the mother of his children, Jennie Lissaman, from whom he was divorced in the early 1970s.

Ms. Ambrose said a private funeral for Mr. Gzowski is to be held sometime next week and a public memorial service next Thursday or Friday in Toronto.

Tributes to the man, perhaps best known for his 15-year run as the host of CBC Radio's Morningside, poured in from all parts of the country and all walks of life.

Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, who participated in several of the estimated 30,000 "conversations" Mr. Gzowski conducted for Morningside, described him as "every person's Canadian. ...He was to radio to what Barbara Frum was to television."

Marylou Finlay, host of CBC Radio's weekday As It Happens, said he was "a natural for broadcasting," coming to radio in the early 1970s after a successful career as a writer and editor for Maclean's, The Toronto Star and the Star Weekly. "He ruled the airwaves with a gentle authority that was all but irresistible."

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell paid special tribute to Mr. Gzowski's famous invitational golf tournaments, which, since their inception in 1986, have raised nearly $7-million for literacy projects.

"His advocacy for literacy motivated all of us," Mr. Campbell said.

Flags at the CBC's 22 stations across the country are at half-mast Friday and condolence books will be placed in their lobbies. A memorial service will be held by the CBC in Toronto, the date and location to be announced. Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., where Mr. Gzowski had been chancellor since 1999, will keep the flag at its main library, where Mr. Gzowski's papers are stored, at half-mast for seven days.

Alex Frame, vice-president of CBC English Radio and the man who unsuccessfully put Mr. Gzowski on late-night television in the mid-1970s, said Canadians were lucky to have had Mr. Gzowski among them for so many years.

"Wherever he went, wherever he did his radio programs, there were going to be people he'd never met, but they all knew him. They were always prepared to have an intimate conversation with him."

The New York Times recognized Mr. Gzowski's unique place, saying that "in a country forever in search of its own voice, Mr. Gzowski is a stand-in for Canada, as curious as he is courteous, interested in hockey heroes and indigenous customs and all the forgotten chapters of a national history and culture that he constantly challenges his listeners to cherish and defend."

In the recently published A Peter Gzowski Reader, which the author himself compiled, Mr. Gzowski said he had "a pretty full life. On radio or television or with a pencil in hand, I've got to meet the Queen, eight prime ministers (nine if you count Margaret Thatcher, who had a cold and couldn't hear my questions but kept on answering what she'd have liked me to ask anyway), four governors-general, two chief justices, two Nobel Prize winners, the world yodelling, whistling and bagpipe champions (all Canadians), and every winner and most of the runners-up of the Giller Prize for literature." (Mr. Gzowski himself was a Giller judge in 1997 and 1998.)

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in honour of Mr. Gzowski to Frontier College, one of the premier beneficiaries of Mr. Gzowski's literacy work; Trent University; the Nunavut Literacy Council and Ontario's West Park Hospital Foundation, which Mr. Gzowski described as his "breathing academy."

Long-time listener Gerry Phelan of St. John's, Nfld., called Mr. Gzowski a great storyteller, a great interviewer and a great Canadian.

"He had the common touch; he touched the hearts of Canadians. Whenever he did the interview, you felt you were the guy asking the questions, and that's really important."

Jack Basey, 53, of Victoria, B.C., said Mr. Gzowski made him feel proud to be Canadian.

"He took an interest in what was happening throughout Canada and brought to the everyday listener little stories and events you never heard in the mass media. I'll miss him."

Former Ontario premier Bob Rae knew Mr. Gzowski for a quarter of a century and was a frequent participant in his charity golf tournaments. Mr. Rae said he saw Mr. Gzowski just a few weeks ago and found he was clearly struggling with his emphysema.

"But through all of that, he showed great courage, and great humour, and I think at the end became an incredible advocate for non-smoking, and showed people the cost of this addiction."

Former CBC journalist Mike Duffy — now with CTV — was a frequent contributor to Mr. Gzowski's show back in the 1980s and recalled his passion for the medium.

"He was able to create on radio, in the theatre of the mind, a sense of warmth, a sense of intimacy, a sense of caring," Mr. Duffy said.

With a report from Canadian Press