Kenneth Bagnell, author of books on British Home Children and Italian immigration to Canada, passes away

Journalist, author, and retired United Church of Canada minister Kenneth Bagnell died Tuesday at the age of 87 in Toronto. 

Reverend Bagnell was the author of The Little Immigrants: The Orphans Who Came to Canada, a story of children brought from Britain to Canada from 1869 to the early 1930s, and Canadese: A Portrait of the Italian Canadians, which told the story of immigration to Canada from Italy.

Born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town, he moved to Toronto in the 1960s.

He worked with the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and received various awards for magazine writing and editing. He was also a renowned public speaker.

Reverend Bagnell is survived by his wife Barbara (née Robar), children, grandchildren, and a brother.

His obituary was published in the Globe and Mail and the Ottawa Citizen.